
Class V__ja._2_l 

Book 



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FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 



By Arthur Howard Noll 



A SHORT HISTORY 
OF MEXICO 

i6mo . . 75 cents net 

FROM EMPIRE TO 
REPUBLIC 

8vo . . . $1.40 net 



A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

Publishers 



FROM 

EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

THE STORY OF 

THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL 
GOVERNMENT 

IN MEXICO 

BY 

ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL 

AUTHOR OF " A SHORT HISTORY OF MEXICO," '* TENOCHTITLAN," 

ETC. 

With Map and Portraits 




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CHICAGO 




. C. McCLURG & CO. 




1903 





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Copyright 

A. C. McClurg & Co. 

1903 

Published October lo, 1903 



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UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
AND SUN • CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

FRANCIS K. HOWELL, Esq., 

Late of the New Jersey Bab, 

THIS BOOK IS REVERENTLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
DEDICATED 



s-^Zf/f 



Preface 



IN the preparation of the following chapters, the 
result of a careful study of that most interest- 
ing phase of Mexican history which relates to the 
struggles for Constitutional Government, the writer 
takes pleasure in acknowledging the very kind assist- 
ance rendered by his friend, Mr. W. W. Blake, of the 
City of Mexico, an authority on all Mexican subjects, 
who has reviewed the manuscript of the book and 
suggested some corrections which have been cheer- 
fully made ; whose aid in the preparation of the 
accompanying Bibliography has been invaluable ; and 
whose approval of the work as it now stands the 
author regards as the best guarantee that can be 
offered of its historical accuracy. The author's best 
thanks are also due to Mr. Francis Fisher Browne, of 
Chicago, whose interest in the book has been shown 
by his offers of wise suggestions that have been fol- 
lowed by happy results. 

A. H. K 

University or the South, 

Sewanee, Tennessee, 

September, 1903. 



Contents 



Page 
Chapter I. Mexico under Spanish Kule ... 1 

Chapter II. The Beginning of the Struggle for 

Independence 24 

Chapter III. The Continuance of the Struggle 

for Independence 52 

Chapter IV. The "■ Plan de Iguala," the Treaty 

OF Cordoba, .and the First Mexican Empire . 74 

Chapter V. The Fall op the Empire, the Eise of 

THE Republic, and the Constitution of 1824 . 91 

Chapter VI. Santa Anna and Centralism . . 109 

Chapter VII. Centralism under the ''Bases Or- 

GANICAS" OF 1843 136 

Chapter VIII. War with the United States, 

AND ITS Consequences 155 

Chapter IX. The "Plan de Ayotla" . . . . 169 

Chapter X. The Constitution op 1857 . . . 187 

Chapter XI. Benito Juarez and the War of 

the Keform 204 

Chapter XII. Foreign Intervention, French In- 
vasion, AND THE Second Empire 232 



X CONTENTS 

Page 
Chapter XIII. The Conflict between the Re- 
public AND THE Empire 259 

Chapter XIV. The Restored Republic and the 

Death of Juarez 284 

Chapter XV. Constitutional Government bear- 
ing Fruits 292 

Appendix A. — Chronological Summary of Prin- 
cipal Events related to Mexican History 305 

Appendix B. — Bibliography 313 

Appendix C. — Notes on the Historical Geog- 
I RAPHY OF Mexico 325 

Index 327 



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FROM 

EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

CHAPTER I 
MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 

IN the early years of the sixteenth century, the 
territory to which the name " Mexico " has 
since been given, was occupied, to an extent 
now unknown, by various Indian tribes. Of these, 
the farthest advanced toward civilization, and the 
most powerful, was that known as the Aztec tribe. 
It occupied the pueblo of Tenochtitlan, upon an 
island in the borders of Lake Texcoco, in the centre 
of the Valley of Mexico. In the previous century 
this tribe had confederated with certain neighbor- 
ing tribes for purposes of war, and had thereby be- 
come elevated to a position whence it could inspire 
with fear and dread other tribes far and near. 

In the year 1519, Europeans appeared upon the 
coast of Mexico and advanced inland to the pueblo 
of Tenochtitlan. The capture and destruction of 
this pueblo by the Spaniards under Hernando Cortes 
in 1521, and the subsequent subjugation of the 
Indians of the surrounding country, comprise a series 
of events embalmed in history under the fascinating 
but misleading title of " The Conquest of Mexico." 
These events are too generally known to require re- 
1 1 



2 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

counting here. With San Hipolito's Day (August 13), 
1521, when Cortds accepted the surrender of the last 
Aztec war-chief and formally took possession of the 
pueblo's site, begins the history of the territory as 
a province of Spain, — or, perhaps more properly 
speaking, as a kingdom of the vast Spanish Empire. 
Officially, it bore the name of Nueva Espana^ or New 
Spain ; though it continued to be popularly known as 
Mexico. 

Exploration of this territory soon revealed the 
fact that it was by far the most beautiful, as well 
as the richest, of all the possessions ever gained 
by Spain in the New World. It possessed every 
feature of picturesque scenery, reaching in many 
places to unimaginable grandeur. Nature had fur- 
thermore been peculiarly lavish of her wealth ; she 
had provided the mountain chains with some of the 
richest mines in the world, and had furnished the 
valleys with regions of the greatest fertility, capable 
of producing every vegetable growth of every clime, 
in sufficient quantities to support a population of one 
hundred and fifty millions. 

The history of the Spanish Domination in Mexico 
extends over three centuries. It took a considerable 
time for Spain to devise and put into operation a 
system of government for her newly acquired pos- 
sessions in the Western Hemisphere. The Consejo 
de las Indias (Council of the Indies) and the Gasa 
de Contratacion (answering in Spain very nearly to 
the English India House) were already in existence 
in anticipation of the establishment of colonies in the 
New World ; but neither of these agencies was pre- 
pared at once to arrange for the government of the 
vast country brought suddenly within its jurisdic- 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 3 

tion by the almost incredible exploits of Cortes. For 
several years the Oonquistadores assumed charge of 
the country as Military Governors ; though the Ayun- 
tamiento (the Spanish form of municipal government) 
was established, first in Vera Cruz and afterwards in 
the City of Mexico. This provisional form of govern- 
ment was subsequently more widely adopted for the 
organization of cities, the division of land among 
colonists, and the greater security of the inhabitants 
of the Province. At the same time, the districts into 
which the Province was early divided were superin- 
tended by Gahildos controlled by a central government 
in the City of Mexico. But to a great extent, the 
ordinances and rules of the Ayuntamiento of Mexico 
have been in force in the country from 1522 up to 
very recent times. 

Los Ofieiales Reales (the Royal Officers), appointed 
to govern the country in the absence of Cortes, were 
early added to the governing machinery of the new 
country ; and Los Visitadores y Jueces de Residencia 
(Visitors and Resident Judges), who were at first 
sent by the Crown to investigate the conduct of Cortes 
and the other Military Governors, soon superseded 
them in the government and exercised extraordinary 
powers. 

In 1528 a body of men styled Audiencia Real 
(Royal Audience) arrived in Mexico. It was com- 
posed of five commissioners known as Oidores (Au- 
ditors), sent out by the King of Spain to impose a 
further check upon Cortes. The Audiencia super- 
seded the Military Governors, Ofieiales Reales^ and 
Visitadores y Jueces de Residencia^ in the government 
of New Spain, and performed for a while all the 
functions relating to the administration of justice. 



4 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Mexico, however, had not become a colony in the 
sense in which that term would be used in England 
or France. It was governed, in common with the 
other Spanish possessions in the "Western World, by 
codes of laws distinct from the laws of Spain and 
intended to suit what were considered the special 
exigencies of the trans-Atlantic Provinces. Mexico 
was, in fact, a separate kingdom, and was so termed 
in all legislation upon the subject; and, with Peru, 
Buenos Ayres, Chili, and other South American 
countries, contributed to form that vast empire whose 
sovereign was enabled thereby to call himself " King 
of Spain and the Indies." 

In 1535, with the arrival of the first of the Spanish 
Viceroys, the scheme of government finally settled 
down into that of a Vireinate ; and this system con- 
tinued for three centuries, until the Mexicans, after 
^ long struggle, in 1821 threw off the yoke of Spain, 
and, as an independent nation, began a series of 
experiments in self-government. Throughout this 
long period, however, the Royal Audiences were con- 
tinued as a permanent institution to which even the 
Viceroys were subject in judicial matters. The Audi- 
ences were to act as a check upon the Viceroys, and 
had the privilege of placing their President in charge 
of the government during any vacancy that might 
occur in the Viceregal office. In a number of cases 
the President of the Audiencia not only discharged 
the functions of the Viceregal office, but took the 
title of Viceroy. All this was in accordance with 
Spain's usual policy with her possessions beyond the 
seas, of setting one part of a government to watch 
the other. For a similar purpose, an Intendente was 
appointed by the Crown, charged with the duty of 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 5 

collecting and applying the taxes, revenues, and im- 
posts, which in New Spain were predestined to be 
many and exceedingly vexatious. 

The Viceroys were appointed for five years, by the 
King, at the instance of the Oonsejo de las Indias. 
They were to be the supreme rulers or chiefs of New 
Spain, representing in everything, as their political 
title implied, the King of Spain, — with their authority 
limited only in certain cases by the Audiencias or by 
the Ayuntamientos. They were wholly without re- 
sponsibility to the people whom they were sent to 
govern. All the powers of administration were con- 
centrated in this Viceregal authority, — though the 
holders of the office were of necessity provided with 
Fiscales, or Administrators of various kinds, whom, 
because of their own too general lack of familiarity 
with the administration of justice, they were obliged 
to consult before taking any important step. 

The Viceroys were for the most part Spanish nobles 
and courtiers who desired the position for their own 
selfish purposes, for repairing their dilapidated for- 
tunes; and they generally returned to Spain with 
wealth wrung from the Mexicans, after maintaining a 
court in Mexico patterned after that of Madrid and 
accompanied by all the pageantry of the royal admin- 
istration of the sixteenth century. In their govern- 
ment they seem to have been actuated chiefly by a 
desire (after recuperating their own fortunes) to se- 
cure all that was possible for the royal treasury, to 
build up and strengthen the government and wealth 
of Spain, and to extend the dominion of the Church. 

As would naturally be expected under such cir- 
cumstances, the Viceroys were not in every case 
wise and just rulers. Some were, indeed, distin- 



6 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

guished for their honorable services in New Spain. 
But the list of these is not a long one, and includes 
few names besides those of Antonio de Mendoza 
(1535-1550), Luis de Velasco (1550-1566), Fray Payo 
de Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico (1673), the Marq'^i". 
of Croix (1766-1771), Bucareli (1771-1779), Matlas 
de Galvez *'the DiHgent" (1783-1785), his no less 
diligent son Bernardo (1785-1787), and the eccen- 
tric second Count of Revillagigedo (1789-1794). A 
majority of the Viceroys exhibited characters reflect- 
ing too clearly the deplorable condition into which 
the affairs of Spain were falling. 

Viceroys and Viceregal government were expensive 
luxuries for New Spain. The fact that some of the 
Viceroys were able to build churches and aqueducts, 
and make other expensive public improvements at 
their own cost and charges (as is so often recorded 
of those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), 
out of a salary of forty thousand dollars a year, in- 
creased about the year 1689 to seventy thousand 
dollars, indicates a state of affairs likely to awaken 
suspicion, to say the least. There were many ways 
by which the Viceroys could gain wealth in the 
discharge of their official duties. Some of these 
methods were looked upon as quite legitimate in the 
easy-going morahty of those days. Titles and dis- 
tinctions obtained from the King upon the recom- 
mendation of a Viceroy were made matters of bargain 
and sale from which the Viceroys derived a profit. 
The granting of licenses furnished another source 
of revenue ; and there were some offices without 
salary, for which large sums were paid because of 
the opportunities they afforded the holders for pecu- 
lation and the acceptance of bribes. 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 7 

There were other methods, however, by which a 
Viceroy was enabled to amass a fortune, not so readily 
condoned by popular opinion, even in that age of 
loose public morals. The Viceroys were frequently 
coming into conflict with the people ; and thus were 
occasioned the numerous insurrections recorded in 
the period of the Spanish Domination. And it is 
especially noticeable that on the occasions when the 
Audiencia assumed ad interim the supreme power in 
New Spain, it seldom failed to distinguish itself by 
some act that served to outrage the people. 

The offices of the government under the Viceroys 
were generally conferred upon those needing posi- 
tions. Offices were created for the purpose of pro- 
viding for such as had claims upon the good graces 
of the sovereign. And as new abuses were discovered 
in the new country, new offices were created for the 
purpose of correcting them, or with the object of 
espionage ; and so the official list grew, until the 
number of officials and the amount of governing 
exercised in New Spain exceeded that of any province 
on record. Yet for all that, even when Spain was 
made aware of some of the maladies that afflicted her 
provinces beyond the Atlantic, grov/ing out of defects 
in her governing system, she showed herself incom- 
petent to cure them. 

Even earher than the Vireinate, an Ecclesiastical 
government was established in New Spain. As its 
development proceeded, it supplied to some extent 
an added check upon the government of the Vice- 
roys ; for so closely vv^ere Church and State allied 
in Spain, that interference in the government by the 
religious and secular clergy was not only possible 
in New Spain, but was scarcely to be avoided. 



8 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

This Ecclesiastical government might be traced, 
as to its origin, to the bull of Pope Alexander YI., — 
himself a Spaniard, — who, when news of the wealth 
of the New World first came to Europe, promptly 
divided the New West between Spain and Portugal, 
upon condition that the King of Spain should assume 
charge of the spiritual destinies of the natives. In 
1502 the King of Spain was constituted the head 
of the Church in America, with the sole right of 
appointing to benefices and offices therein. Eccle- 
siastical government was destined, from the start, 
to exert an important influence upon the affairs of 
New Spain, and to entail some serious problems for 
settlement by the subsequent Republic of Mexico. 
The evangelization of the country kept pace with, 
or even in many cases outstripped, its colonization, in 
the early years of New Spain. It was effected by the 
religious orders, whom Cortes preferred to the secular 
clergy, as best fitted for the work awaiting them in 
a new country ; and as a consequence, the members 
of these orders increased in number more rapidly 
than the secular clergy. 

In this work of evangelization by the religious 
orders, the Franciscans took the lead. They were 
followed by the Dominicans, and later by a number 
of other orders. The work of all these extended 
rapidly, until in a short time the colonized portions 
of New Spain resembled one vast ecclesiastical estab- 
lishment. A glance at the map of Mexico serves to 
strengthen this assertion as well as to illustrate it. 
The Spanish names to be found thereon are for 
the most part religious names, and mark points at 
which the missionaries established their work in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So widespread 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 9 

had the system of the Franciscans become in 1606 
that the entire country was divided into six prov- 
inces. Mexico was erected into a Bishopric before the 
Viceregal government was established therein. New 
Bishoprics were organized so rapidly that in 1545 
Mexico was advanced to the dignity of an Arch- 
bishopric, including four other dioceses. Two more 
dioceses were added \vithin a few years subsequently. 

It may be frankly admitted that the influence of 
the religious orders was in the main beneficial to the 
country throughout the sixteenth century. The 
Archbishops and Bishops of Mexico exercised great 
influence in the affairs of government. They were 
respected by the civil authorities and venerated by 
the natives. The Franciscans, by zealous missionary 
work among the natives, gained a powerful influence 
over their converts, which they used judiciously to 
strengthen the position obtained for the Spaniards 
through conquest, and maintained by force of arms. 
The Jesuits, who arrived in the year 1572, true 
to the purpose of their order, tried to foster learning 
in the new land, though with but limited success. 
Other religious orders established and maintained 
admirably appointed hospitals and asylums in every 
large city. 

The Dominicans were not slow in establishing the 
detestable Inquisition; but it was for the express 
and very plausible purpose of keeping the colonists 
and foreigners in order, and advancing the spiritual 
interests of the Church. The Indians were, by spe- 
cific command, exempted from its operations. Of all 
the orders, the Dominicans exerted the most powerful 
influence in political affairs. It was upon the sug- 
gestion of Zmnarraga, a Dominican, who was the 



10 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

first Bishop of Mexico, that the Viceregal system 
of government was adopted for New Spain. And 
the government was more frequently under Domini- 
can than Franciscan or any other religious influence. 
The Archbishopric of Mexico was likewise filled with 
members of the Dominican order. Under the Vice- 
regal system, combined as it was with the system 
of Royal Audiences, in case of a vacancy a prelate 
would frequently hold the office of Viceroy ad interim ; 
and thus the names of ten prelates, nearly all Domini- 
cans, appear in the list of the sixty-two Viceroys of 
New Spain. 

In the seventeenth century the beneficial influence 
of the religious orders began to wane. They had 
grown rich and worldly; the Carmelites, v/ho had 
come to Mexico as late as 1585, had become so 
wealthy that they owned estates in the province of 
San Luis Potosi one hundred leagues in extent, 
reaching from the city of that name to Tampico on 
the Gulf coast. The protection of the Indians from 
the aggressions of the colonists, previously afforded 
by the orders, was greatly relaxed. It is not without 
significance that one great source of the Church's 
wealth during this period was found in the opulent 
colonists, who by their munificent gifts to the Church 
were able to acquire an ascendancy over the ecclesias- 
tical authorities and maintained it ready for use when- 
ever an emergency arose rendering it serviceable. 

Feuds arose between the religious and the secular 
clergy, and led to contentions in the Church. The 
Franciscans and the Dominicans had but to transfer 
to their homes in the New World the bitter jealousies 
that had characterized them in the Old. The man- 
agement of the Indians furnished a constant occasion 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 11 

of strife between the friars of all the orders and the 
civil authorities. 

So it came about most naturally, and as one of the 
repetitions to which history is proverbially committed, 
that the influence of the religious orders proved ex- 
ceedingly harmful during the last of the three centu- 
ries of Spanish rule in Mexico. The Dominicans, 
who had all along been a dominating power, had, by 
the exercise of the functions of the Holy Office, 
engendered a deep feeling of hatred for the religious 
government, and this hatred reacted upon the politi- 
cal government so closely connected with it. The 
Dominicans alone might be said to have furnished a 
powerful cause for the overthrow of Spanish rule, at 
the very time that they were laboring hardest to up- 
hold it as it manifested signs of tottering. And all 
the orders, — by seizing and holding vast amounts of 
property, by building churches and monasteries in 
times when the people were suffering the most abject 
poverty, and by enforcing the law of tithes and thus 
gaining control of wealth which should have been 
applied to encouraging industry and relieving the 
needs of the people, — conspired to stimulate the 
popular discontent which finally broke out into open 
revolt. 

It is too often the custom of nations dominating 
foreign peoples, or founding colonies, to extort as 
much as possible of the products of their subjects, 
and make their happiness and progress a mere sec- 
ondary consideration or leave them out of the account 
altogether. Spain exemplified this custom in regard 
to her possessions in America. After the abdication 
of Carlos L and the accession of his narrow-souled 
and bigoted son Felipe II. (more generally known to 



12 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

English-speaking readers as Philip II.), the colonial 
policy was lowered from the high standard set for it 
by the father. Felipe cared nothing for the New 
World, save as a source of supply for gold and silver, 
and as a field for the exercise of his religious bigotry. 
From the time of Felipe II., the Inquisition, the 
power of the Church, and unjust taxation, marking 
the downward course of the Spanish Empire, exer- 
cised a dominating influence upon the colonial policy 
in Mexico. The unwholesome spirit of absolutism in 
the court of Madrid manifested itself likewise in the 
Viceregal court of New Spain. 

Under Carlos III. (1759-1T87), a reform was 
undertaken in Spain, and the effects thereof were 
felt in Mexico. The Inquisition was stifled, the 
power of the Church was curtailed, and taxation 
was reduced. Viceroys who were men of energy and 
probity were sent out to New Spain, and with them 
a Visitor-General with full power to investigate and 
reform all parts of the government and especially the 
financial system employed there. Special privileges 
were granted to the natives, and an attempt was made 
to give the Europeans in Mexico a better opportunity 
for self-government. All this, however, lasted but 
for a time. Then afiPairs relapsed into their former 
state, and the evils of that state were worse than at 
first. 

Colonization resulted in the creation of various 
social classes among his Majesty's subjects in New 
Spain. There were, first of all, the white colonists of 
pure Spanish blood. These comprised the only recog- 
nized society in the social organization that existed in 
Spanish America. They were attached to the Vice- 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 13 

regal court, or were in thorough sympathy therewith, 
under a policy of government that permitted only 
Spaniards to fill the offices in New Spain. They were 
wild adventurers for the most part, — gold-thirsty trad- 
ers, often less civilized in their notions of truth and 
in the refinement of their manners and mode of life 
than the races whose land they had invaded. Yet to 
them only were the doors open for preferment in the 
Church, in the army, or at the bar, for many years 
previous to the opening of the nineteenth century. 
They inhabited chiefly the table-lands of the interior 
of the country, and were inchned to uphold Spain's 
unjust policy of government in the Western World 
as against all the other social classes. In the later 
period of Spanish Domination they became known as 
" Old Spaniards " ; and to the Indians they were 
known as GacJiupines, — a word of dubious origin, 
always applied opprobriously and probably meaning 
" thieves." 

In the opposite social scale were the Indians, the 
pure native races, — Aztecs, Zapotecs, Tarascans, 
Otomies, and many others, — who were scarcely rec- 
ognized as having any rights which the Spaniards 
were bound to respect. It is evident, from various 
decrees of the Crown and of the Viceroys, that the 
Spanish government never recognized as vested in 
the Indians any but possessory rights in the land to 
which they were indigenous, and that it never intended 
to grant them anything more than this. These people 
were concentrated mainly in the vicinity of the large 
cities of the table-lands, — Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, 
Guanajuato and Valladolid. 

A third class was composed of Creoles, as they were 
called, — the white natives of New Spain of pure 



14 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

European descent. These, although the possessors 
of wealth, and arrogating to themselves positions of 
equality with the Spaniards, were regarded by the 
latter in almost the same category as the native In- 
dians. Usually classed with the Creoles, and going 
by their name, were people of mixed Indian and 
Spanish blood, more properly known as 3Ieztizos. 

There were, besides these three chief classes, vari- 
ous kinds of half-castes, — the mixture of whites and 
negroes, or mulattoes; Indians and negroes, called 
Zamhos or Chinos; and there were some African 
negroes, principally upon the Gulf and Pacific coasts, 
whither the African slaves imported into Mexico were 
sent because of the unhealthfulness of those regions 
for the Europeans. 

In 1793, according to a report made to the King by 
the Viceroy of that time, — the energetic but eccentric 
Count of Revillagigedo, — the proportion of these 
various classes was about as follows : out of a popu- 
lation of five and a quarter millions in New Spain, 
there were less than ten thousand Europeans, about 
two-thirds of a million of white Creoles, a million 
and a half of the different half-castes, and over two 
and a quarter millions of Indians. The number of 
Europeans is supposed to have increased to eighty 
thousand within the next quarter of a century, and 
that of the white Creoles to about a million. 

The asperities resulting from the mutual repug- 
nance of the Mexican and Spanish stocks were in- 
creased by the refusal of the Spaniards, in their pride, 
to make any distinction between the Indians and the 
Creoles, even though the latter might be as rich as 
themselves, and certainly were more numerous ; and 
although, also, they were numerically strong enough 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 15 

at any time, either alone or by uniting with the In- 
dians, to overthrow the power of Spain and set up a 
government of their own. Yet so great was the 
Spanish contempt for all but " Old Spaniards " that 
one of the later Viceroys, after the question of " home 
rule " had arisen, declared that as long as a Castilian 
remained in the country, though he were no more 
than a cobbler, he ought to rule in New Spain. 

Not only had the conquest and subjugation of 
the country been marked by extreme cruelty to the 
native races, but with the earliest schemes for 
colonization, the iniquitous system of encoinienclas 
and repartimie7itos had been introduced into Mexico. 
Thus had been established a kind of slavery for the 
Indians, partaking somewhat of the nature of feudal 
vassalage in different forms, ranging from mere ward- 
ship to absolute servitude of the most abject type. It 
is true that laws were enacted by the Oonsejo de las 
Lidias, apparently emanating from a desire to protect 
the Indians and put some curb on the extortions and 
cruelty of the colonists. But Spain was too far dis- 
tant, and communication was too difficult, for the cry of 
the oppressed to be distinctly heard, or to enable the 
mother country to exercise any supervision or exert 
any great influence in ameliorating their condition. 

Some of the decrees for the amelioration of the 
Indians illustrate, as nothing else can, the extent 
of the evils sought to be remedied. For example, a 
royal ordinance of 1554 decreed that no slaves should 
be made in future wars ; that the system of assigning 
slaves to each colonist should be abandoned ; and that 
the Indians should not as a class be solely devoted to 
ignoble pursuits. Thirty years later the attempt was 
made to secure for the Indians employed in the mines, 



16 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

'* regular hours of repose, and some time to breathe 
the fresh air on the surface of the earth." 

Decrees abolishing slavery were numerous. Luis 
de Yelasco, the second Viceroy, by his act manumit- 
ting one hundred and fifty thousand Indians held as 
slaves by the Spanish colonists, gained for himself the 
title of " The Emancipator." Yet upon a division of 
the royal domain, some time subsequently, the gov- 
ernment established a bad precedent of inconsistency 
with its own decrees, by transferring the Indians with 
the soil. And notwithstanding decrees of manumis- 
sion and restriction, slavery continued under various 
forms throughout the Spanish rSgime ; and cruelty to 
the slaves bore fruit from time to time in terrible 
pestilences, whereby nearly two millions of Indians 
are said to have perished. 

The colonists eagerly sought the revocation of the 
decree of 1554, and were wont to plead, in defence of 
their cruel treatment of the Indians, that only by the 
employment of slave labor could they hope to make 
the country produce the exorbitant taxes levied upon 
colonial products by the Spanish government. There 
may have been something in the plea by which they 
sought to hold Spain responsible for the continuance 
of an institution which she was ostensibly endeavor- 
ing to keep within bounds and eventually to abolish. 

The laws enacted by the Consejo de las Indias for 
the government of the colonists (who were, however, 
denied all voice in their enactment) had little or no 
regard for the needs of the Spanish subjects in New 
Spain ; they were involved in contradictions, and 
were arbitrarily enforced. The Oonsejo was in some 
respects the most peculiar governing body known to 
history. It was established in 1511, and gradually 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 17 

usurped exclusive control of the Spanish possessions 
in the New World. It enacted all the laws and regu- 
lations for the government of Spanish America, and 
made or confirmed all appointments — civil, military, 
and even ecclesiastical — for that country. The 
higher officials of New Spain received from the Oon- 
sejo orders and instructions regarding the perform- 
ance of their duties, v/hich had to be explicitly 
obeyed ; and the Consejo was a final Court of Ap- 
peals in all cases involving important questions aris- 
ing in the New World. Over all its proceedings the 
monarch reserved the right of veto; but this right 
was seldom exercised. 

Vacancies in the Consejo were filled upon its own 
recommendation ; consequently it was a self-perpetu- 
ating body, both as to its constituency and as to its 
policy. It soon became forgetful that it owed any ob- 
ligations to the native Mexicans, or that those people 
were any other than beasts of burden, bound to eter- 
nal vassalage to the Spanish people quite as much as 
to the Spanish monarch. Some one has remarked that 
" the worst features of the two worst governments in 
the world — the Gothic rule and that of the Spanish 
Moors — had been combined to form the government 
of Spain ; and then the worst features of this mongrel 
government had been carefully preserved to oppress 
the native population of Mexico, in the code sent out 
to it by the Supreme Council of the Indies." 

The law in New Spain was exceedingly slow in its 
course. Redress sought by appeal to the Viceroy 
might have to go to the Council of the Indies ; and 
matters that ought to have been settled by the Al- 
calde or Regidor of a provincial town must be de- 
layed until they could reach the Viceroy and await 



18 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

his deliberations. In fact, so impossible was it to ob- 
tain, through the Council and the officials sent from 
Spain, redress for injuries which those in Mexico 
might receive, that a maxim came into vogue to 
the effect that " God is in Heaven, and the King is 
in Spain," — implying that there was no limit to the 
power of the royal representatives, and no remedy 
for the wrongs done to the subject ; significant also 
of the forgetfulness of all humanity on the part of 
Spanish officials and hopeless submission of the sub- 
jects to their rule. In other parts of the Spanish 
possessions a proverbial expression was current and 
was applied to any official whose conduct proved un- 
just, arbitrary, or tyrannical: Us muy Rey^ He is very 
much King ! 

In regard to commerce, the Spanish monarchs, 
aided and abetted by the Oonsejo and the Casa de 
Oontratacion, manifested a peculiar phase of absolu- 
tism. That the trade might be controlled for the sole 
advantage and benefit of the home government, the 
colonists were prohibited, under penalty of death and 
forfeiture of property, from trading v/ith any country 
but Spain. Even a carrying trade between one col- 
ony and another was forbidden ; and commerce with 
Spain was so trammelled with burdensome regula- 
tions as to render it far from profitable save to the 
favored few. 

The Casa de Contratacion had been estabhshed in 
1501, for the purpose of directing the course of com- 
merce between the colonies and the mother country. 
It was a court of judicature, and had jurisdiction over 
the conduct of all persons connected with the trade 
between the two countries. An appeal from it could 
be made to the Consejo after that body was created. 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 19 

By the regulations of the Oasa, all commerce was 
to be carried on in Spanish ships. Not a vessel could 
unload a cargo except at a given port, — Sevilla at 
first, and until Cadiz was made a like favored city, — 
and an outgoing vessel could receive only such goods 
as had passed through that port. No foreign vessel 
could enter any harbor in Mexico. Other ports of 
Spain were opened to trade in the time of Carlos III., 
but only for a short time. In Mexico, commerce was 
restricted to the port of Yera Cruz. 

All English goods had to be carried first to Spain, 
there landed, and thence once more shipped for their 
first destination in the New World ; so that the price 
was enhanced a hundred-fold by the time the goods 
reached the consumer in Mexico. Such restrictions 
upon trade threw it into the hands of a few business 
houses, and created monopolies with all their attend- 
ant evils. When Sevilla enjoyed exclusive com- 
merce with Mexico, the whole amount of shipping 
employed did not exceed twenty-eight thousand tons. 
For a long time fifteen ships, voyaging at intervals 
of one or two years, carried all the trade between 
Spain and Mexico. The number was afterward^ 
increased to fifty or sixty. 

The system of prohibitive duties was so exacting 
that three-fourths of the imports into Mexico were 
smuggled. The custom-house officers were bribed to 
connive at the violation of laws which decreed death 
as a penalty for their infraction. The great wonder 
is that Spain succeeded for so long a time in main- 
taining a trade monopoly that, by all the rules of 
political economy ever formulated, was destined from 
the start to decline and shrink to dwarfish proportions, 
and sooner or later to collapse. 



20 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Restrictions upon commerce with Mexico might 
have been to the advantage of that country in stimu- 
lating the development of her industries and of her 
natural resources. But so anxious was Spain to 
monopolize every possible advantage, that it was 
made illegal in Mexico to erect factories, or to culti- 
vate any raw products that would come into direct 
competition with home industries. Mexico was looked 
to for a supply of the precious metals only. Saffron, 
hemp, olives, grapes in vineyards, and many other 
things that Mexico might have raised for her own use 
or for shipment to Spain, were inhibited by law. 
Immigration was thoroughly discouraged. No for- 
eigner could enter New Spain without the express 
permission of the Spanish government. It was in the 
enforcement of this law that the Holy Office was 
expected to render its greatest assistance. 

Education was discouraged in all the Spanish 
possessions. It is customary to cite as historic facts, 
in contradiction of this statement, the setting up in 
Mexico, in 1535, of the first printing-press in the New 
World, and the establishment there, in 1551, of the 
first University on this continent. But neither the 
printing-press nor the so-called University proved 
very powerful agents in the dissemination of learning. 
The printing-press was necessarily limited in its use- 
fulness by circumstances ; the one newspaper emanat- 
ing from it — the G-aceta — was published immediately 
under the direction of the government, and carefully 
excluded anything which might be opposed to the 
Viceregal Court or Audiencia. Newspapers were 
allowed to be imported from Spain only, and such as 
came from that quarter once or twice a year gave 
information only of the movements of the Spanish 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 21 

Court and of the Church. The University was re- 
stricted in its usefulness to those who inherited or 
otherwise possessed a knowledge of the Spanish 
tongue; and it never had more than two hundred 
students at any one time. What other schools and 
colleges there may have been were kept under the 
sole direction of ecclesiastics who were charged with 
keeping the people in ignorance rather than with 
extending their knowledge, and who carefully ex- 
cluded from the course of instruction such branches 
of study as were likely to elevate the feelings or 
strengthen the mind. 

The Index Expurgatorius of the Roman See was 
extended in its scope to meet the requirements of the 
Indies; and the literary productions of Mexico be- 
longing to the period of the Spanish Domination 
comprise a few poems and plays of small value, and 
some works on natural history and on the antiquities 
of the country which it would be far from safe for the 
modern student to accept as authoritative. 

The laws which excluded Spaniards born in Amer- 
ica — that is, the Creoles proper — from equal rights 
with those who were of direct importation from Spain, 
and especially from any share in the government or 
of the higher dignities of the Church, were sufficient 
in themselves to make the Creoles discontented and 
unhappy. Their unhappiness and discontent were 
readily communicated to the Meztizos, with whom 
they had much in common, and added to those feelings 
which the latter had derived from their Indian ances- 
tors. Three centuries of Spanish rule, under Mili- 
tary Governors, Royal Audiences, Viceroys, Religious 
Orders, and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, were not suf- 
ficient to subdue the proud spirit of the Indians with 



22 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

which Cortes and his soldiers had to contend in the 
sixteenth century, and Avhich has since been the in- 
heritance of every Mexican born with so much as a 
drop of Indian blood in his veins. The cruel treat- 
ment the}7 had received left a legac}?^ of hatred for 
their European masters stored up by each successive 
generation of Indians. It has not yet been exhausted. 
It is in no way surprising that they should have 
become sullen and vengeful ; nor that they fostered, 
until it became inveterate, a hatred of the very name 
of Spaniard. 

The most important and the most disastrous result 
of the long period of misgovernment in New Spain, 
however, was not the destruction of the present hap- 
piness of the people, but the ahnost total destruction 
in them of all capacity for self-government in the 
future. The Mexican people were so long oppressed, 
that, like all people thus treated, they were unable to 
estptblish good government of their own until they 
had learned by the most painful experiences that free- 
dom is not merely the absence of restraint, but a rule, 
the correct administration of v/hich requires the sacri- 
fice of the wishes of the individual to the interests of 
the commonv/ealth. 

Few countries have passed through more political 
calamities in order to attain to a knowledge of what 
Constitutional government is, and how people are 
to be served thereby, than Mexico. The lesson is 
really in process of learning still ; but to appreciate 
the advanceraent already made toward that knowledge, 
and the difficulties to be encountered in the approach 
thereto, it is not only necessary to consider the three 
centuries when Mexico was under the domination of 
Spain, and when her national character was being 



MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 23 

imperfectly formed, but also the means by which she 
gained her independence, and her various failures in 
self-government ere a few of her people awoke to a 
sense of the obstacles that presented themselves to 
her progress, and of the means by which these 
obstacles could be surmounted. 



^4 FROM EMPIRE TO BEPUBLtG 



CHAPTER II 

THE BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 

THROUGHOUT three centuries of misrule, 
Spain had furnished her subjects in Mexico 
with abundant grounds for revolt. The 
tide of revolution in America, begun in 1776, reached 
in time the Spanish provinces, and awakened there, 
among a people already discontented, a spirit of inde- 
pendence. Any shrewd observer of the social condi- 
tions of New Spain in the early years of the nineteenth 
century would have said that there existed therein 
every element of revolution. There were aborigines 
and half-breeds, — all ignorant and superstitious ; 
there was a less numerous class of Creoles, — wealthy 
but discontented; and there were a few thousand 
Europeans, — proud and corrupt, profiting by every 
act of administrative iniquity. Such an observer 
would have predicted, furthermore, that the people 
were but waiting for some special occasion or for 
some competent leader to arouse them to an effort 
toward freeing themselves from the domination of 
Spain. Yet when the struggle for independence was 
finally inaugurated, in 1808, it was directly caused 
not so much by these conditions in Mexico as by the 
disruption of the Spanish government at home. 

For many years, Spain had been under the spell of 
the French Revolution, and subservient to Napoleon 
Bonaparte, who had set his covetous eyes on the 



; 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 25 

southwestern peninsula, and had determined that 
the Escurial should be occupied by a member of his 
family. Spain had been making war and peace at 
his behest, and in 1807 had arranged with him the 
partition of Portugal. But it was in defiance of all 
treaties that Napoleon was now proceeding to the 
mihtary occupation of Spain. Murat entered the 
country with eight thousand French troops, in March, 
1808, and proceeded to Madrid. The movement was 
nothing less than an attempt on the part of Napoleon 
to steal the crown of one of the greatest states of 
Europe, and if successful to rule not only Spain but 
also a boundless empire in the New World. Every- 
tliing was favorable at the time for such an enter- 
prise. In fact, had he chosen to wait patiently he 
might have attained his end in a short time without 
such an open and flagrant breach of law. 

Carlos IV., the Spanish sovereign, was wholly 
unfitted to be the ruler of a kingdom. He had been 
reckless of his territorial possessions in the New 
World, and had, by the Treaty of Ildefonso, in 1801, 
" not as the spoils of an open war, but as the price 
of a dishonorable peace," basely and ignorantly aban- 
doned to France what was known as the Province 
of Louisiana, containing 899,579 square miles ; and 
Napoleon, without even taking possession, had subse- 
quently sold this territory to the United States for 
fifteen millions of dollars. 

The virtual ruler of Spain, however, was the cor- 
rupt Manuel Godoy, who, though high in favor with 
the King, was known to be the paramour of the 
Queen (Maria Luisa of Parma). The heir-apparent 
to the Spanish throne was Fernando (Ferdinand), 
Prince of Asturias, — narrow-minded, incapable of 



26 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

generous emotions, and in no respects better than 
Godoy, Carlos, or the Queen. He had lately been 
suspected of harboring designs upon his father's 
Hfe. 

Scarcely had Murat advanced to the capital, when 
an outbreak occurred in Aranjuez. Godoy fell, the 
King abdicated, and the Prince of Asturias was pro- 
claimed King as Fernando VII., with all the enthu- 
siasm of which the Spaniards have shown themselves 
capable throughout their history. That this move- 
ment was encouraged by Napoleon, if not actually 
instigated by him, there can be little doubt, despite 
his subsequent attempts to relieve himself of culpa- 
bility in the matter. He at first refrained from 
acknowledging Fernando, and encouraged Carlos to 
withdraw his abdication as having been given under 
duress. When it thus became doubtful who was the 
King of Spain, Napoleon signified his readiness to 
act as arbitrator. 

Fernando was persuaded to appear before the 
French Emperor in Bayonne, and was followed 
thither by Carlos and the Queen. A violent scene 
occurred between the father and son, and Napoleon 
succeeded in securing the abdication of both and their 
surrender for themselves and for their heirs of all 
rights to the crown of Spain. The two royal refu- 
gees then found themselves virtually prisoners in 
France. Carlos attempted to embark for his domin- 
ions in America, but was prevented. Fernando re- 
mained a captive in Valengay for five and a half 
years, with no knowledge of what was going on 
in Spain save as derived from French newspapers. 

The crown thus relinquished by Carlos and Fer- 
nando was, much to the disappointment of Murat, 



TEE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 27 

first offered to Louis Bonaparte, then occupying the 
throne of Holland ; and when indignantly refused by 
him, was hastily conferred upon Joseph Bonaparte, 
another brother of the great Napoleon. 

Napoleon's efforts to obtain some show of consent, 
on the part of the Spanish nation, to the nomination 
of his brother to the throne, resulted in the submis- 
sion of the nobles of Spain to the new order of things. 
The Council of Castile, the chief political body, gave 
its consent, — somewhat reluctantly, it may be, — 
and thereby set an example that was followed by the 
municipality of Madrid. A junta of one hundred 
and fifty Spanish notables, summoned to Bayonne in 
July, 1808, accepted a constitution proposed by Napo- 
leon, by the terms of which the Spanish subjects in 
America were to enjoy the same privileges as those 
of the mother country, and were to be represented by 
deputies in the C6rtes of Madrid. 

Fernando, in this emergency, exhibited the duplic- 
ity of his character in the letters and proclamations 
which he sent forth from his imprisonment. The 
letters were to Napoleon and Joseph, and contained 
expressions of satisfaction and congratulation. Of 
the proclamations, one called upon the Spaniards not 
to oppose the " beneficent views " of Napoleon ; and 
the other was to the Asturians, calling upon them to 
assert their independence and never to submit to the 
perfidious enemy who had deprived the King of his 
rights. 

The first of these proclamations was regarded as. 
having been extorted from Fernando under duress 
of imprisonment, and was more effective than the 
other in arousing the indignation of Spain. Except- 
ing in localities where the French arms were domi- 



28 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

nant, the people rose everywhere in revolt. The 
citj of Valencia renounced allegiance to the govern- 
ment of Joseph Bonaparte. Sevilla did the same, 
and established a junta to watch over the interests 
of Fernando and claim the obedience due to him. 
This junta declared war against France, in June, 
1808. England proclaimed peace with Spain, and 
proceeded to aid the Spaniards in their war against 
France. The war thus begun continued until 1814, 
when Napoleon abdicated the throne of France and 
Vetired to Elba. 

Each of the several political juntas now formed in 
various parts of Spain sent official notice of its proceed- 
ings to the Viceroy of Mexico, demanding his obedi- 
vj^ence, and asking for money to carry on the war. At 
the same time. Napoleon had his emissaries in Mexico 
striving to promote revolution. They brought orders, 
professedly from Fernando and the Council of the 
Indies, for the Mexicans to transfer their allegiance 
to France. 

Information of the course of events in Spain was 
communicated to the Mexicans by the proclamation 
^yoi the Viceroy dated on the twentieth of July, 1808. 
' Naturally, perplexity and dismay resulted. The whole 
social system seemed to have been shaken loose. The 
Mexicans had been taught to regard the possessions 
of Spain as vested in the King, and not in the state 
or in the people. They could see no justice in any 
demand upon their obedience by a government which 
the Spanish people had established without their con- 
sent, and in the absence of their recognized sovereign. 
As there was no government in Spain, that country 
being overrun by French troops, were not they of the 
American provinces left absolutely without a govern- 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 29 

ment? and was the necessity not clearly revealed 
of their making some provision for a government of 
their own? 

It is somewhat remarkable, under such circum- 
stances, to find the people generally manifesting a 
'^feehng of stanch loyalty to Fernando VII., and of 
/^ppposition to the French. It was especially so to 
find the Creoles more loyal to the King than were the 
' Europeans. A former Viceroy had made advances to 
the people in the name of Napoleon, and the Audi- 
encia had been disposed to favor the Junta of Madrid. 
But the Creoles received the news of the declaration 
of war with France with every demonstration of joy 
and loyalty, and it was with enthusiasm that they 
proclaimed Fernando VII. their King. 

But for the class hatred that existed between the 
various components of Mexican society, and for the 
lack among Mexicans of leaders having a knowledge 
of the science of government, an immediate result of 
the perplexing state of affairs in Spain might have 
been the pacific withdrawal of Mexico, and the organ- 
ization there of a representative government with, 
perhaps, Fernando VII. as King. The first effort in 
that direction, however, unfortunately aroused the 
class hatred to its intensest degree, and was thereby 
defeated. 

The Viceroy of that time was Jose de Iturrigaray, 
the fifty-sixth, and by no means the worst, of those 
\who had occupied that exalted office. He was pub- 
■Jic-spirited, an excellent ruler in many ways, and had 
bhown himself rather favorably disposed toward the 
people. He had fostered commerce and stimulated 
home industry, although he had pursued the exactions 
characteristic of the Viceroys besides such as were 



30 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

necessary to supply Spain with the means to meet 
the extraordinary demands upon her finances. 

In the perplexities that confronted him, the Vice- 
roy declared himself determined to sustain in his 
government the interests of the dethroned Spanish 
Borbons; and this seems to have been the popular 
determination throughout the Spanish- American prov- 
inces. It was with this purpose in view that Iturri- 
^aray announced the establishment of the Junta of 
Sevilla, and required the Ayuntamiento of Mexico to 
submit to the orders of that body. But he encountered 
most unexpected opposition. In the Ayuntamiento 
there happened to be at that time a majority of 
Creoles; and some ideas of government had been 
developed in the minds of these, ever since the revolt 
of the British colonies to the north of Mexico in 1776. 
These ideas asserted themselves in the prompt refusal 
of the Ayuntamiento to submit to the Junta of Sevilla. 
The Ayuntamiento proposed to recognize Fernando 
VII. as the monarch, and to remain faithful to him. 
But it was recognized that Spain and Mexico were 
two kingdoms, and that a junta established in the 
former had no authority in the latter, either directly 
or indirectly, or by any sort of implication. The 
Ayuntamiento therefore recommended the establish- 
ment of a junta in Mexico, to be composed of deputies 
from all the various cahildos of the province, for the 
purpose of conserving the interests of Fernando VII. 
in Mexico and giving to that country a government. 

It then seemed to Iturrigaray that the opportunity 
had presented itself for the establishment of some 
kind of " home rule " in New Spain, and he was in- 
clined to assent to the suggestions of the Ayuntamiento 
if they could be somewhat modified. He accordingly 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 31 

announced his intention of calling a junta or con- 
gress, to be composed of the Eoyal Audience, the 
A]*chbishop, and the Ayuntamiento ; and to include 
representatives from each province, and from the 
several ecclesiastical and secular bodies, the nobility, 
the military, and some of the principal citizens. He 
also proposed the adoption of some form of provi- 
sional government in which the people would be likely 
to have confidence. 

The Creoles were naturally flattered by the impor- 
tant part conceded to them in this proposed new 
order of things. There were ideas of independence 
beginning to crystallize in the minds of a few Mexi- 
cans who had studied the course of events in the 
United States, in Mexico, and in Europe. These also 
fell in with such a proposition. But the Audieneia, 
the Mscales, and the military and civil officers sent 
out from Spain, were of a different mind; and they 
formed a powerful oligarchy v/ith whom to reckon. 
They were naturally disposed to oppose any measure 
advocated by the Creoles, and especially one that re- 
quired their cooperation with that hated class. They 
misconstrued the scheme of Iturrigaray into a trea- 
sonable design to set up an independent empire in the 
country, and to occupy the throne thereof. 

The precise details of Iturrigaray's plan do not 
clearly appear. He may have hoped that during the 
absence of Fernando VII., who was to be the chosen 
ruler, the proposed junta would invest him with the 
government of Mexico ; and he would thereby insure 
his retention of the viceregal office. But neverthe- 
less it was his undoubted purpose to save the king- 
dom from anarchy, as well as from French intrigue ; 
and the disinterestedness of his motives has never 



32 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

been called in question by representative Mexicans. 
On the eve of the day set for the accomplishment of 
whatever it was intended to do (the sixteenth of Sep- 
tember — a date which, by a strange series of coinci- 
dences, was to be associated with a more prominent 
effort for the freedom of Mexico), a rich Spanish 
merchant living in Mexico, acting under the direc- 
tions of the Audiencia, and jealous of the ascendancy 
the Creoles might gain from the popular form of gov- 
ernment proposed, appeared before the Viceregal 
Palace at the head of a body of five hundred men. 
The guards of the palace were overpowered, and the 
Viceroy and his family were put under arrest, con- 
veyed to Vera Cruz, and confined in the fortress of 
San Juan de Ulua until they could be sent across the 
Atlantic to Spain as prisoners of state. 

This " counter-revolution," or " reactionary conspir- 
acy," was indorsed by the Spaniards of the viceregal 
court and of the Audiencia, not only because they sup- 
posed the plan of Iturrigaray to be an infraction of 
their rights and prerogatives, but because they were 
alarmed, and their bitter class hatred was aroused by 
the suspicion that Creoles and Meztizos were to be 
admitted to a share in the government. As the Vice- 
roy had been held in the highest esteem by all classes 
of Mexicans, this treatment of him awakened univer- 
sal indignation ; and the " Old Spanish party " found 
it necessary to take some defensive measures. They 
proceeded, therefore, to arm the Europeans against 
the Creoles, and to form "patriotic" associations for 
the defence of their " rights." They went even fur- 
ther, and made several arrests among the Creoles, 
accusing them, whether justly or otherwise, of being 
particeps eriminis with Iturrigaray in his schemes. 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 33 

A leader of these persecuted Creoles was Licen- 
ciado Verdad, whose contributions to the cause of 
Independence had been made in the form of pasqui- 
nades and proclamations appearing daily in the City 
of Mexico. He was arrested upon a charge of treason, 
and imprisoned in the Archiepiscopal Palace. A few 
days later, he was hanged in his prison, without hay- 
ing had so much as the pretence of a trial. He was 
thereupon regarded as a martyr to the popular cause, 
and his death awakened a widespread sympathy for the 
upholders of the political principles he had espoused. 

There was a mystery attending the execution of 
Verdad that has never been cleared up, though the 
crime of his death was laid at the door of Pedro de 
Garibay, an "Old Spanish" soldier whose whole 
career had been spent in Mexico, and whom the 
Europeans hastened to put in the place of the ejected 
Viceroy. He was a bitter partisan of the Spaniards, 
and during his brief term as Viceroy ad interim recog- 
nized the Junta of Sevilla, sent to Spain all the money 
he could raise in Mexico, and vigorously prosecuted 
those who were under arrest for treason. He sought 
by a system of bold and oppressive action to drown all 
opposition to the authority of the " Central Junta," 
or Junta of Se villa. 

The discontent of the people increased. The Cre- 
oles were thoroughly aroused. Strength was given 
to the revolutionary sentiments already spreading. 
The authority of the " Old Spaniards " began to be 
disputed, and from that time to decline. Ideas of a 
government independent of Spain began to take deep 
root in the minds of the Mexican people. The vio- 
lence and arrogance of the Audiencia but increased 
the Creoles' feeling of hostility to the Europeans. 



34 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The question in controversy became purely a class 
question, as to whether Spaniards or Creoles should 
govern New Spain during the captivity of the King. 
By the order of the Spanish Central Junta, Garibay 
was superseded by the Archbishop of Mexico, Fran- 
cisco Javier de Lizana. He had been in Mexico since 
1804, and had taken part in the deposition of Itur- 
rigaray; but he had afterwards changed his views of 
the political situation, and so expressed himself to 
the Spanish C6rtes. He openly favored the Creoles, 
although he promptly crushed an abortive conspiracy 
in favor of Independence discovered in Valladolid, in 
the province of Michoacan, in 1810, and arrested and 
executed the conspirators. 

The year 1809 was one of great distress in Spain. 
The French overran the country, and drove the Cen- 
tral Junta from Sevilla to Cadiz. The Junta had 
summoned a C6rtes in which the American subjects 
of his Majesty were to be represented. This C6rtes 
was to convene in Cadiz, in March, 1810. Conse- 
quently there was no time to notify the Mexicans 
of the concession made to them, and their places in 
the C6rtes were temporarily filled by persons chosen 
in Spain. The Junta appointed a Regency of five to 
administer the affairs of the government, and then 
disappeared from history. 

This Regency issued a decree, on the twelfth of 
March, the declared object of which was " to Furnish 
the Inhabitants of the Extensive Provinces in America 
all the Means Necessary to Promote and Secure their 
Real Happiness." It declared that the Spanish sub- 
jects in America " were now raised to the dignity of 
freemen," and their " lot no longer depended upon the 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 35 

will of Kings, Viceroys, or Governors, but would be 
determined by themselves " ; and it urged them to 
select deputies to the Cortes from the Spanish posses- 
sions in the New World. 

Thus the spirit of independence was fostered in the 
colonies of Spain by the acts of Liberals at home. It 
seemed to both the governing class and to the gov- 
erned, that after this action upon the part of the 
Regency of Spain, nothing could again permanently 
subjugate those who had been so long the slaves 
of the iniquitous system of Spanish government. 
And even before the idea of popular rights gained 
a firm hold on the minds of the Mexicans, the 
reverses sustained by the Spanish arms taught them 
that those arms were not invincible, and that it 
was a mihtary possibility for them to free themselves 
from the control of the Audiencia or of an unpopular 
Viceroy. 

The governing class in Mexico felt that the govern- 
ment of Spain was completely subverted; but there 
was a lack of unity among them as to what it was 
best to do in such a case. Otherwise they would 
have separated from Spain, and compelled the people 
to continue their submission to the same harsh rule 
to which they had been accustomed, only under a 
different name. The loyalty of the people to Fer- 
nando VII. naturally inchned some of the Old Span- 
iards to favor the continuance of the Central Junta ; 
others favored the Regency; others still sought to 
remain neutral. Could the people — the Creoles 
and Meztizos — have taken advantage of these divi- 
sions among the dominant classes, and of their 
own superior numbers, or could they have found a 
competent leader who could have guided them to 



36 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

such a course, a mighty nation might then have 
sprung into existence destined to achieve a splendid 
career. But the people lacked leadership and a 
knowledge of the science of government. There was 
no one even to tell them the value of the oppor- 
tunity that was theirs. The news of the disasters 
in Spain, however, did this at least, — it caused the 
formation of clubs to further a scheme for inde- 
pendence from the control of Central Junta, Regency, 
and Audiencia, each of which had become, in the 
absence of the legitimate government of Fernando 
VII., a usurper of the supreme power in Mexico. 

Lizana's career as Viceroy was brief. He was 
summoned to Spain by the Regency, to answer 
charges lodged against him by the Junta, upon 
representations from Mexico that his lenient policy 
towards the Mexicans was breeding insurrection. Pe- 
dro Catani, the President of the Audiencia, was 
Viceroy ad interim until the thirteenth of September, 
1810 ; then Francisco Javier Venegas received the 
Vireinate in Guadalupe, and arrived in the City of 
Mexico as the sixtieth Viceroy. 

Venegas had been the leader of the Spanish armies, 
but had not been very fortunate in his conduct of 
the war then in progress in the Peninsula. He was 
scarcely the man to cope with such conditions as 
Vv^ere then existing in New Spain. The mild Iturri- 
garay would have done better for Spain in such 
an emergency. In the first place, Venegas, by reason 
of his military failures on the Peninsula, v/as not 
calculated to inspire popular confidence. He was, 
furthermore, of hasty and passionate temper. He 
continued with vigor the policy of the Audiencia, 
and soon forced the people into resistance to his 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 37 

efforts to compel them to resume a position from 
which they had been specifically released by the 
action of the Regency that had appointed him to 
office. 

Three days after Venegas took the oath of office 
in Guadalupe, the first actual uprising of the Mexi- 
cans began in the little town of Dolores, not far from 
the city of Guanajuato, and about two hundred miles 
northwest of the capital of Mexico. It was under the 
leadership of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who has since 
been known as "The Father of Mexican Independ- 
ence." This distinguished patriot was the cur a, or 
parish priest, of the village of Dolores. He was a 
Creole, nearly sixty years of age, and had been for 
several years nursing the idea of the independence 
of his country. He had mingled with the Indians, had 
gained a knowledge of their language, and acquired 
a powerful influence over them. At the same time, 
his learning and many excellent qualities had made 
him popular and influential among the Creoles and 
Meztizos. 

From the time of Iturrigaray, the cause of Inde- 
pendence had been fostered in the cities of Yalla- 
dolid and Queretaro, as well as elsewhere, by means 
of clubs, nominally of a literary character, but really 
political in their purposes. The clubs maintained 
a mutual correspondence, with a view to devising 
and ultimately cooperating in a scheme for the estab- 
lishment of the Independence of Mexico. Of the 
club in Dolores, Hidalgo was president. He was 
maturing his plans for an uprising to occur during 
the great annual fiesta of the Indians, which begins 
on the eighth of December. It was expected that 
the support of the native races could then be easily 



38 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

obtained. Though the plan was intended primarily 
for the benefit of the Creoles and Meztizos, yet 
Hidalgo had been surreptitiously manufacturing 
lances in a neighboring hacienda for the purpose 
of arming the Indians. 

Ignacio AUende, Aldama, and Abasalo, — officers 
in the provincial militia, which was composed at that 
time chiefly of Creoles, — were confidants of Hidalgo, 
and participants in his schemes as far as he had re- 
vealed them. Their plan of action, as at first formu- 
lated, included the capture of all public officers and 
of all persons connected or in sympathy with the 
Viceregal government and the Audiencia. This plan 
was by no means chimerical, considering the great 
disparity in numbers between the Europeans and the 
Creoles and higher-classed Meztizos whom it was 
intended to enlist in the enterprise. They were then 
to proclaim the Independence of Mexico, and to es- 
tablish a government with a Senate and House of 
Deputies, all in the interests of Fernando YIL, who 
was to be the recognized sovereign. 

To obtain resources for their government, they pro- 
posed to confiscate the property of the Europeans, 
whom they intended to send back to Spain. In its 
inception, it was not essentially a race insurrection 
that was proposed. It was primarily a Creole move- 
ment. But when it was concluded to call in the 
Indians and half-breeds, a race feeling in all its bitter- 
ness was aroused. 

Discussion of the details of these plans at a so- 
called Literary Club in Queretaro, of which the 
Corregidor of that city and his wife were members, 
and an effort to enlist confederates and cooperating 
clubs in some of the principal provincial towns, led 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 39 

to the detection of the scheme by the Spanish authori- 
ties at Guanajuato. This followed closely enough 
upon the suppression of the threatened insurrection 
in Yalladolid to make the Old Spaniards suspicious. 
The movements of the Corregidor of Queretaro and 
his wife were closely watched, and orders were issued 
for the arrest of AUende, Aldama, and Hidalgo. It 
was in consequence of all this that the sixteenth of 
September, and not a later date, became the received 
birthday of Mexican Independence and Nationality. 

At two o'clock on the morning of that date, Allende 
and Aldama came to the house of Hidalgo, awakened 
him, and informed him that their plans had been 
betrayed to the government authorities, and that the 
whole movement was jeopardized unless the blow 
were struck at once. Allende had indeed intercepted 
the order for his own arrest, as well as for that of 
Aldama and Hidalgo, and showed it to the priest. 
They accordingly sallied forth from Hidalgo's house, 
with seven other men hastily notified. They went to 
the juzgado (jail), and liberated the political prisoners 
therein; secured arms from a neighboring euartel 
(military quarters), and armed eighty men whose 
allegiance they had by this time and by these means 
secured. They promptly seized the Europeans living 
in Dolores, and confiscated their property. This open 
declaration, at the outset, that the campaign was to 
be one of spoils, was not without its effect in attract- 
ing volunteers from among the Indians and half- 
castes. But it was not long before it had the 
unfortunate effect of repelling the better class of 
Creoles. 

It was Sunday; and earlier than usual, Hidalgo 
prepared to celebrate mass in his parish church. To 



40 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

all who were in attendance he announced that the 
time had come for Mexico to free herself from Eu- 
ropean rule, which had become no longer Spanish but 
French, and which threatened to overthrow their most 
holy religion. He intimated that the Spaniards, who 
had so long been enemies to the best interests of the 
country, were now selling them out to French infidels. 
It was no difficult matter to arouse the feelings of his 
hearers, and his appeals for the uprising of the people 
have since been called the Crrito de Dolores. They 
were responded to most promptly and heartily by the 
Indians of the little town and of the neighboring 
haciendas, and Hidalgo was able to set out that morn- 
ing at the head of three hundred men, armed, for the 
most part, with the rudest kinds of weapons. 

Passing the church of Atotonilco, Hidalgo took 
therefrom a banner bearing a picture of the Virgin of 
Guadalupe, the special patroness of the Mexican 
Indians. This banner he affixed to a lance and 
adopted as the standard of the " Army of Independ- 
ence," as he called his motley rabble. He thus ap- 
pealed to the religious enthusiasm of the Mexicans, 
and excited to the utmost their hatred of their Spanish 
oppressors; for already a rivalry had sprung up 
between the votaries of the Virgin of Guadalupe and 
those of the Virgin de los Remedies, the latter being 
the special patroness of the " Old Spaniards." 

Shouts of "" Viva la Religion ! Viva nuestra Madre 
Santisima de Guadalupe ! Viva la America y muera 
el mal Grohierno ! Viva Fernando VII. ! " (Long live 
religion ! Long live our most holy mother of Guada- 
lupe ! Long live America and death to bad govern- 
ment ! Long live Ferdinand VII.) rent the air as the 
insurgents continued their march, their passions in- 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 41 

flamed by recollections of j^ears of oppression, — burn- 
ing for revenge of real or fancied wrongs, and with 
the prospect of obtaining rich spoils. But they 
were unfortunate in adding soon afterwards to their 
war-cry, "Death to the Gachupines ! " — f or such a 
bloodthirsty cry resulted first in alarming and then 
in alienating the Creoles. Many of these people were 
distinguished for their wealth and high standing, and 
they were naturally alarmed at an insurrection which 
placed them and their property at the mercy of an 
infuriated mob of Indians. In the first excesses com- 
mitted by the uncontrollable Indians, many of the 
Creoles were slaughtered through failure to discrimi- 
nate between them and the Europeans. The Creoles 
were therefore forced to the side of the Viceroy, as he 
prepared to adopt defensive measures. 

The insurgents reached San Miguel that night. 
The regiment to which Allende belonged declared for 
Independence, and joined them. There the riotous 
character of the newly formed army became evident 
to the leaders, and they perceived what difficulty there 
would be in keeping the insurgents within bounds. 
A quantity of gunpowder, sent from the City of 
Mexico for use in the mines at Guanajuato, was inter- 
cepted and secured, — more than enough to supply an 
army having a limited number of fire-arms and relying 
upon its weapons of a ruder sort. More Indian vol- 
unteers were received, all as ill-armed and lacking in 
discipline as the others. Celaya surrendered to the 
insurgents, on the twenty-iu^st of September, as they 
marched through it on their way to Guanajuato. An 
organization of the " army " was attempted in Celaya, 
and Hidalgo was proclaimed " Captain- General " of 
troops numbering twenty thousand men, including 



42 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

some Creole priests, but for the most part a hetero- 
geneous mass without suitable equipment or discipline 
of any kind. 

Meanwhile, the Viceroy had awakened to the dan- 
gers of the situation, and was sending out troops 
under skilled commanders to combat the insurgents 
and protect the places along the line of their proposed 
march. The discovery of the schemes of Hidalgo 
had been made in the time of Catani ; and Venegas 
had been informed thereof on his way from Vera 
Cruz to the capital. He did not regard the matter 
as of great importance, however, and upon entering 
the capital he proclaimed the decree of the Cortes of 
March 12, 1810, and published a long list of rewards 
offered for services which might be rendered to the 
Spanish government. The main article of this decree 
related to the reduction of taxes and the removal of 
restrictions upon trade. It was accompanied, how- 
ever, by a demand for twenty millions of dollars for 
the conduct of the Peninsular War. The Viceroy 
succeeded in attaching the Creoles more closely to his 
government; but his act had no effect whatever 
upon the hordes of infuriated Indians overrunning 
the province of Guanajuato, or upon their leaders, 
who were failing utterly in their efforts to keep them 
under control. 

The Church had also awakened to the dangers which 
threatened it and the government over which it 
had established a quasi protectorate. The Bishop 
of Michoacan was issuing edicts of excommunication 
against the insurgents. Archbishop Lizana issued a 
pastoral letter combating the principles upon which 
Hidalgo justified the revolution he had started, and 
ordering the Spanish and Creole clergy to declare 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 43 

from their pulpits, and cause it to be everywhere 
known, that the purpose of the revolution was to 
subvert the Holy Catholic Rehgion. The Inquisi- 
tion charged Hidalgo with every error of which that 
tribunal took cognizance. 

This action would have had greater effect upon 
the faithful adherents of the Church among the 
popular classes, had it not been that at that time 
offices of profit and distinction were being conferred 
upon all the Spaniards who had taken part in the 
overthrow of Iturrigaray. For Iturrigaray had come 
to be regarded as a popular hero and martyr ; and 
the benefits conferred upon his opponents revived 
the feeling of dissatisfaction aroused by the deposi- 
tion of that Viceroy. The friends of liberty were 
stimulated afresh. The Viceroy Venegas was there- 
fore forced to recall his conciliatory proclamation and 
his list of " inducements," and to publish a proclama- 
tion offering a reward of ten thousand dollars for the 
capture, dead or alive, of Hidalgo and his two chief 
military companions. 

The city of Guanajuato, capital of a province of the 
same name, had about eighty thousand inhabitants, and 
was so rich as to divert the Indians under Hidalgo from 
the direct route to the City of Mexico. It was, in 
fact, next to the capital in point of wealth, being 
in the midst of the richest silver mines in Spanish 
America. The political chief of the province, Rianon, 
was universally respected for his courage, and was in 
command of a small body of troops. The people of 
the city showed a disposition to side with Hidalgo. 
Rianon therefore determined not to attempt the de- 
fence of the city, but he and all the Old Spaniards 
took refuge in the Alhondiga, or Castle Granaditas, 



44 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

— the fortified warehouse belonging to the Casa de 
Oontratacion. There they put themselves in the best 
state of defence possible, in anticipation of the arrival 
of the insurgents. 

Hidalgo arrived on the twenty-seventh of Septem- 
ber, and, announcing that he had been elected " Cap- 
tain-General of America," demanded the surrender of 
the city. The demand was at first accompanied with 
an offer of favorable terms, but was renewed v/ith 
the warning that it would be impossible to hold in 
check the infuriated Indians if the surrender were 
refused and resistance were made. Rianon, however, 
refused to surrender, and prepared to sell his life and 
the lives of his fellow refugees as dearly as possible. 

The fight that ensued was a bloody one. The 
provincial militia fought desperately, under skilled 
officers, in defence of the city ; but without avail. 
The insurgents, — for the most part savages armed 
with bows, arrows, sUngs, machetes, lances, and the 
weapons to which they had been accustomed in their 
aboriginal state, without discipline, but fighting with 
desperate courage, — surrounded the city, occupied 
the various eminences that commanded the Alhondiga, 
shouted " Death to the Gachupines ! " and emphasized 
their cries with showers of missiles. They finally 
forced the gates of the Alhondiga, and captured the 
place by storm on the twenty-eighth. Rianon was 
killed as the place was carried. 

After the capture, Hidalgo, as he had given warn- 
ing, found it impossible to restrain his undisciplined 
army, and the wildest scenes of confusion ensued. 
Despite his efforts and entreaties, a general massacre 
took place. For three days the carnage and destruc- 
tion of property continued, until satiety and weariness 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 45 

stayed the hands of the msurgents. Hidalgo suc- 
ceeded in adding five millions of dollars, found in 
the Alhondiga, to the treasury of the revolutionists. 
The whole province declared for him. Many of the 
provincial militia deserted to his standard, deeming it 
unsafe to remain opposed to his army. He continued 
his attempts to organize his troops, and kept the 
mint at Guanajuato employed in the coinage of 
money in the name of Ferdinand VII. He had the 
bells of the city cast into cannons for his army. 

On the tenth of October he left Guanajuato for 
Valladolid, in Michoacan; and that city declared for 
independence immediately upon his arrival. The 
Bishop, the Oahildo, the civil authorities, and the 
European residents, had evacuated the place upon 
his approach. He now found himself at the head of 
eighty thousand men, but with the army of the Vice- 
roy organized to oppose him, with himself excom- 
municated by the Bishop of the Diocese, and with 
a reward offered for his head. There was, further- 
more, a Viceregal proclamation abroad decreeing that 
any one taken with arms against the government should 
be shot within fifteen minutes of the capture, and 
awarding no "benefit of clergy." The decree offered 
pardon to all who would return to their allegiance to 
Spain. Hidalgo received vast sums from the coffers 
of the Cathedral in Valladolid, and began his march 
in the direction of the City of Mexico. He re- 
viewed his troops at Acambaro, and was proclaimed 
" Generalissimo." 

On the thirtieth of October the army of the Inde- 
pendents gained a victory over the Spanish forces 
under General Truxillo at Monte de las Cruces, be- 
tween Toluca and the capital, and within twenty-five 



46 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

miles of the latter place. In this battle the Spaniards 
established the precedent of suspending the customary- 
rules of war, and a flag of truce sent by Hidalgo was 
fired upon by order of Truxillo. Of this act Truxillo 
boasted in his report of the battle, and it was applauded 
by the Viceroy. It is not remarkable that such acts, 
which characterized the Spanish in their conduct of 
the war that had now opened in good earnest, should 
have stimulated acts of a like character on the part of 
the insurgents. 

The defeat at Monte de las Cruces completely 
demoralized the Viceregal army, and might have 
served Hidalgo a very good purpose, even to the 
extent of the complete success of his plan. The 
City of Mexico was panic-stricken, and might easily 
have been taken had the insurgent leader followed 
up his victory by a march in that direction. But he 
manifested an utter lack of military sagacity. After 
advancing to the hacienda of Quaximalpa, — only five 
leagues distant from the capital, and in full view 
thereof, — and sending a summons to the Viceroy to 
surrender (to which the Viceroy vouchsafed no reply), 
Hidalgo retreated with his army toward the interior 
of the country. The only plausible explanation ever 
offered by the admirers of Hidalgo for this strange 
conduct is that he dreaded subjecting the capital of 
his country to the frightful excesses he had seen visited 
by his troops upon Guanajuato. 

Allende conducted the retreat, though it was 
against his better judgment, and in the face of his 
vigorous protest ; and many of the insurgents, disap- 
pointed by this retrograde movement and terrorized 
by the ecclesiastical edicts fulminated against them, 
deserted. On the seventh of November the insurgents 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 47 

encountered a train of artillery and ten thousand well- 
equipped Creole troops under the command of Gen- 
eral Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, who had been sent 
by the Viceroy to concentrate the Viceregal forces. 
A bloody and desperate battle followed. The Indians 
under the command of Hidalgo displayed courage, 
but no discretion. Rushing with their clubs upon the 
bayonets of the enemy, they fell in heaps. They were 
so ignorant of the effects of artillery that they ran 
fearlessly up to the mouths of cannons belching forth 
death and destruction, and attempted to stop them 
with their sombreros. As an inevitable consequence, 
the insurgents were defeated with a loss equal to the 
entire troops under Calleja del Rey. Such was the 
battle of Aculco. 

Calleja went to Guanajuato after this battle, and 
made that city the scene of frightful cruelties in 
retaliation for the excesses committed by the Indians 
under Hidalgo. The inhabitants of the city were 
driven into the Plaza Mayor, and men, women, and 
children were deliberately butchered. Calleja boasted, 
in his official report, that by cutting their throats he 
had saved the Viceregal government the expense of 
powder and shot. The number of the slain is given 
as fourteen thousand ; though it is difficult to believe 
that such a scene as this actually occurred upon our 
continent and in the nineteenth century. Its effect 
upon the Independents may easily be imagined. 

Hidalgo succeeded in concentrating his remaining 
forces in Guadalajara, where he was received with 
every demonstration of joy. He made an attempt to 
organize something in the way of civil government. 
Retaining for himself the title of *' Generalissimo," 
he exercised the functions of political dictator and 



48 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

appointed a " Minister of Grace and Justice " and a 
"Minister of State and Business." He attempted to 
send a commissioner to the United States; but tlie 
commissioner was made a prisoner by the Spaniards, 
and from him the exact state of Hidalgo's military- 
resources and plans were learned, and other informa- 
tion wars gained which hastened the overthrow of the 
Patriot-Priest. Hidalgo had lost, in killed, wounded, 
prisoners, and. desertions, at least thirty thousand 
men ; butlfes^till had an army of about eighty thou- 
sand, mostly raw recruits. 

From Guadalajara he issued decrees abolishing 
slavery and^ stamp duties. He changed his policy 
somewhat, and removed the portrait of Fernando 
VII. from his banner. He began the publication of 
a series of " broadsides " entitled Despertador Ameri- 
cano^ in which he sought to justify his acts and to 
explain his intentions more fully than he had previ- 
ously had the means of doing. His edicts declaring 
all slaves set at liberty, and his declarations, both by 
word of mouth and by printed manifestos which he 
sent out until he flooded the land with them, that 
Mexico was freed from the Spanish yoke and released 
from all obligations to Spanish rulers, had but little 
effect. The opposition of the Church authorities was 
being felt in restraining citizens from flocking to his 
banner, as at first. 

Though Hidalgo is now regarded as a national 
hero, it must nevertheless be admitted that he fell 
far short of being a model leader or an altogether 
admirable character. If he were only indirectly or 
remotely responsible for the excesses committed by 
the army of half -savage Indians whom he had enlisted 
and whom he was incapable of disciplining or control- 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 49 

ling, there are some acts recorded for which he was 
more directly responsible, and for which it would be 
folly to seek justification. 

Other Spanish forces were sent against the insur- 
gents, and they suffered a final defeat in a battle 
fought at Puente de Calderon on the sixteenth of 
January, 1811. The army of the Independents was 
completely dispersed. Hidalgo, AUende, Aldama, 
and another insurgent leader, Jimenez by name, held 
together, and started toward the North, intending to 
purchase arms and procure assistance in the United 
States with which to renew the struggle. They were 
apprehended and taken under a strong guard, first to 
Monclova and then to Chihuahua. In the latter city, 
some time in June, 1811, AUende, Aldama, and 
Jimenez were executed. Hidalgo was reserved for 
more deliberate action. He was tried by an ecclesias- 
tical court, degraded from the priesthood, and then 
delivered over to the secular arm. He was shot in 
his prison in Chihuahua, on the thirty-first of July. 
The old man met his death heroically, with his last 
breath supplicating Heaven to favor the struggles of 
his country for independence. 

The heads of these four martyrs to the cause of the 
Independence of Mexico were taken to Guanajuato 
and placed upon pikes at the four corners of the 
Alhondiga, as a warning to Mexicans of the fate that 
awaited any who chose to continue in revolt against 
the government of Spain. There they remained until 
1821 and the dawn of a better day for Mexico. In 
1823 the bodies of these heroes were buried under the 
" Altar of the Kings " in the apse of the great Cathe- 
dral in the City of Mexico. 

Thus failed, chiefly through lack of a clearly defined 



50 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

purpose, the first great movement on the part of the 
Mexican people toward Independence. Hidalgo's 
mission seems to have been to arouse his people, to 
stimulate them to a struggle which must inevitably 
result in securing popular liberty, however long de- 
layed. The cause survived its earliest leaders. The 
revolution had advanced too far to be crushed by the 
death of its projectors. The ghastly heads upon 
the Alhondiga in Guanajuato inculcated a lesson very 
different from that which was intended, and served to 
inflame the Mexicans with a new sense of their wrongs 
and to inspire them with a desire to renew the struggle 
with increased vigor. 

Other leaders arose, one after another. But as the 
conflict deepened in intensity, it was apparent that 
hatred of the Spaniards was the animating prin- 
ciple of the Independents; and it was scarcely to be 
expected that a people brought up under the Spanish 
provincial system should suddenly prove themselves 
either worthy of liberty or capable of acquiring and 
maintaining it. 

Among the military chieftains who, in irregular 
succession, assumed the direction of affairs, no man 
arose of such commanding talent as to insure the com- 
plete submission of his fellow-citizens and bind them 
together by the bonds of a common belief and a com- 
mon purpose. Personal jealousies began to divide 
the Independents into factions, each governed by the 
temporary interests or humors of its leaders. Even 
in those early days we catch a foreglimpse of the two 
great political parties which afterwards kept Mexico 
in a disturbed condition for more than half a century. 
The partisans of these several factions ignored what- 
ever at the outset bound them together for common 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 51 

action, and betrayed each other. Otherwise the inde- 
pendence of Mexico had not been so long delayed. 
For what might not two millions of Indians, and the 
various castes, have accomplished by concerted action, 
under wise and efficient leaders, against ten thousand 
or even a hundred thousand Europeans ? 



62 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 



CHAPTER III 

THE CONTINUANCE OF THE STRUGGLE FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 

AT the time of the collapse of Hidalgo's in- 
surrection, Ignacio Lopez Rayon was left in 
command of a remnant of the Army of the 
Independents that escaped to Saltillo. There he 
found himself with four thousand men and twenty- 
two pieces of artillery as the nucleus of an army for a 
renewed struggle for liberty. Accompanied by Jos^ 
Maria Liceaga, he took possession of Zacatecas and 
made it his headquarters for a while. 

From Zacatecas these new leaders sent word to 
General Calleja that the object of the revolution was 
to establish a national junta, or congress, which 
would conserve the rights of the Roman Catholic 
Religion and of Fernando VII., and prevent New 
Spain from falling into the power of Bonaparte. This 
explanation v/as far from satisfactory to Calleja, and 
he made a military demonstration which forced Rayon 
from Zacatecas. Rayon next established himself in 
Zitacuaro, near Valladolid, where he formed a govern- 
ing board, calling it the ' ' Supreme Junta of Zita- 
cuaro." This board was composed of five members, 
elected by as many land-owners as could be collected 
for the purpose, in conjunction with the authorities of 
the town. Rayon was himself the President; and 
Jose Maria Morelos, Jos^ Maria Liceaga, Dr. Verduzco, 
and Dr. Cos were members. Previous to this, the 



TEE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 53 

insurgents had recognized no authority but force of 
arms, and their armies existed without any colorable 
authority whatever. This junta was intended to 
correct these defects, to give some authority to the 
military, and to furnish the armies with a systematic 
plan of attack. It was also expected to regulate the 
affairs of the "Independents," as they were now 
generally called, and to unite the people more closely 
against the Viceroy and Audiencia. Rayon therefore 
became, to the establishment of civil government in 
the provinces held by the Independents, what Hidalgo 
had been, and what Morelos was shortly afterwards 
to become, to the military conduct of the revolution. 

The newly formed junta distinctly recognized Fer- 
nando VII. as the sovereign of Mexico, and claimed 
to govern the country in his name. It claimed an 
authority in Mexico equal to that of any of the 
juntas of Spain. Doubtless much might have been 
gained could all the Independents have united upon 
some such theory of government as this. It was, 
indeed, somewhat similar to that which was after- 
wards embodied in the " Plan " that eventually suc- 
ceeded. It was scarcely more than a revival, if not 
actually a survival, of the project of Iturrigaray, as 
that project is now generally understood. The first 
principle of the junta was more intimate union with 
Spain. Events in Spain, however, soon made such 
a principle untenable, and it was superseded by a 
principle which involved a separation from Spain, 
and there was at least one member of the junta 
who stood out boldly in his refusal to acknowledge a 
king of any kind or on any terms. The junta's chief 
importance was in the fact that it served as a nucleus 
for the subsequent Congress of Chilpantzingo. 



54 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Josd Maria Morelos was a greater military genius 
than Rayon, or any others of his time ; and hence 
he was the logical successor to Hidalgo in the military 
leadership of the Independents as soon as they could 
be rallied and reinforced after the battle of Puente 
de Calderon. He was a Meztizo, and like Hidalgo 
(whose pupil he had been) a priest of the Roman 
Catholic Church. He had followed his old school- 
master into the conflict with the Viceregal govern- 
ment, — starting out with more humane and liberal 
ideas than those that had prevailed in the earlier 
part of the conflict, and adhering to them until 
driven by the conduct of his enemies into an oppo- 
site course. He had distinct and clear ideas of the 
Independence of Mexico; and it was natural that 
the struggle, as he now prepared to maintain it, 
should become more definite in its aims, and con- 
sequently that it should accomplish more, than those 
which had preceded it. 

Morelos had already fought twenty-six engage- 
ments in the south, and had been victorious in all 
but two of them. In a battle near Acapulco, which 
he made his first objective point when sent out 
by Hidalgo in 1810, he defeated a large number of 
Viceregal troops, and captured eight hundred mus- 
kets, five pieces of artillery, seven hundred prisoners, 
some ammunition, and a large sum of monej. It was 
because of such successes as this, often repeated, that 
his name has been added by the historiographers of 
Mexico to their long list of " Heroes of a Hundred 
Battles." 

Among the lieutenants of Morelos was still another 
patriot-priest, Mariano Matamoros, who is sometimes 
accredited with even greater military genius than 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 55 

Morelos. Dr. Cos, a member of the Zitacuaro junta, 
was likewise a priest; so was Nayarete, another 
patriot-warrior. Later there was a Padre Torres 
who established an insurrectionary despotism in the 
heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, calling it 
the " Junta of Jauaxilla," where he became a terror 
alike to Spaniards and Independents. The attitude 
of these priests in the conflict is remarkable, inas- 
much as the revolution was opposed from the first 
by the leading cleigy in accordance with a papal 
encyclical directing them to oppose all attempts to 
secure the separation of Mexico from Spain. 

A daring plot was discovered in August, 1811. It 
was no less than a plan to take the person of the 
Viceroy from the City of Mexico and send him to 
Rayon at Zitacuaro; there he was to remain in 
Rayon's custody, and sign such orders as the latter 
might see fit. This discovery so alarmed the Viceroy 
that he took steps for the extermination of Rayon 
and his followers. Rayon being considered the most 
formidable enemy of Spanish rule in America, General 
Calleja was sent to Zitacuaro to capture him; but 
Rayon escaped, together with his junta. Calleja 
destroyed the town, burned the houses, and killed 
many of the inhabitants. Prisoners taken at the 
time were executed. 

The junta went to Sultepec, and there Rayon 
found himself at the head of twenty thousand men, 
with Manuel de Mier y Teran as his most valuable 
military assistant. Rayon was a man of unquestioned 
energy and executive ability. He established found- 
ries in Tlalpujahua for the manufacture of cannon, 
and factories for the supply of guns and ammunition. 
He secured some coarse wooden type, and printed in 



56 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Sultepec the Seminario Pat7notica and the lUustra- 
dor Americano^ papers (perhaps scarcely more than 
" broadsides ") which upheld the rights of the people 
and justified the movement for Independence. A 
paper appeared in the City of Mexico, called El 
Pensador Americano^ in which Carlos Maria Busta- 
mante, an eminent historian of Mexico, echoed the 
words of Rayon and defended popular rights. It 
was at great personal risk that Bustamante thus 
undertook to mould public opinion, and he wrote 
with such vigor and effect that the Viceroy thought 
best to suspend the liberty of the press, although 
it had been guaranteed to the people by the Spanish 
Constitution and the action of the Regency. 

At Sultepec the junta came to be called the " Junta 
Americana." When driven out of Sultepec, its mem- 
bers took the field in various parts of the country, 
where the Independent armies met with a discourag- 
ing series of defeats. There was finally a bitter disa- 
greement between Rayon on one side and Liceaga and 
Verduzco on the other, and this caused the influence 
of the junta to decline. 

Spain was still at war with France, and Fernando 
was still in captivity, when the C(5rtes at Cadiz 
adopted a new Constitution, in March, 1812. Fifty 
Americans had sat in that C6rtes, together with one 
hundred and thirty-two members from other parts 
of the Empire. By the provisions of this Constitu- 
tion, the Spanish nation was declared to consist of 
all Spaniards in either hemisphere. All free men 
born and residing in the Spanish Dominions, and all 
those to whom the privileges of citizenship might be 
granted, were to be included in the term *' Spaniards." 
Spanish citizens alone could vote, or be elected or ap- 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 57 

pointed to civil trusts or offices ; and the term " Span- 
ish citizens " included all Spaniards excepting those 
who were by either parent of African descent. Even 
these, however, might be admitted to the privileges 
of citizenship upon certain conditions. 

The government of Spain was to be an hereditary 
monarchy, Fernando VII. being recognized as King. 
But the royal authority was reduced to little more 
than a name, and the Regency became a mere show ; 
for the Cortes invested itself with executive as well 
as legislative powers. The legislative power was to 
reside in a single body of deputies, and the King was 
to possess only a limited power of veto upon the enact- 
ments of this body. The executive duties were com- 
mitted nominally to the King, but he was to be aided 
by a Council of State and act through nine respon- 
sible ministers. The application of the laws in civil 
and criminal cases was to belong to the Audiencias 
and courts alone. 

The territories of the Empire were divided into 
provinces, each to be governed by a chief to be ap- 
pointed by the King and a provincial deputation 
composed of members chosen biennially by the citi- 
zens of the respective provinces. The basis of na- 
tional representation was to be the same in every part 
of the Dominions, the number of deputies sent by each 
province being proportioned to the number of its 
Spanish citizens. 

The Council of the Indies had already disappeared 
in the course of the political tempest that had swept 
over Spain. Under the new Constitution, this Coun- 
cil was to be replaced by a '' Minister of the Kingdoms 
beyond the Seas." The Inquisition was suspended, 
and the convents and monasteries were dissolved. 



58 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The press was freed from all restraints excepting 
such as might be imposed upon it by specific laws. 

Generally speaking, though the new Constitution 
was by no means a perfect one, it was liberal in its 
provisions, and a long way in advance of anything 
the Spanish provinces beyond the seas had ever 
known. It improved the condition of the Indians in 
some respects, by exempting them from military ser- 
vice and from the payment of the most irksome of the 
taxes formerly levied upon them. But the Central 
Government was empowered to delay the extension 
of the privileges granted under this Constitution in 
any of the dominions to which it was not considered 
safe or judicious to apply them at once, and Mexico 
was liable to be placed in that category at any time 
at the will of the Viceroy. 

Early in 1812, two battalions of Spanish troops, 
including a famous Regiment of Asturias which had 
won the title of " The Invincibles " in the Peninsula, 
came to Mexico, sent there by the Regency of Spain 
to support the Viceregal government and to assist in 
reducing the Independents to subjection. The Cortes 
of Cadiz was furthermore known to be in negotia- 
tion with England regarding means for the pacifica- 
tion of the American provinces. The Constitution 
had been proclaimed in some parts of America before 
the arrival of the Spanish troops ; but in some prov- 
inces the proclamation was postponed until after that 
time, and consequently the Mexicans were suspicious 
of the concessions made to them therein. They had 
had a long experience of the falsehood and injustice of 
Spain, and had little confidence in the sincerity of the 
Cortes or in the power of that body to maintain the 
new institutions it had apparently sought to create. 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 59 

Thoughtful men in Mexico felt and expressed distrust, 
and the more courageous and patriotic of them openly 
disregarded the new Constitution. 

Venegas, the Viceroy, took the view that the new 
Constitution was in most of its provisions impracti- 
cable in Mexico. He proclaimed it, but he soon saw 
that it was impossible for him to maintain his author- 
ity under it, and after two months he began to sus- 
pend one provision after another until in a short 
time nothing remained. He could not, however, 
revoke the concessions made to the people, and the 
general effect of his vacillations was to spread the 
revolution and make it more popular. For though 
the Mexican people might lack confidence in the 
ability or even in the intention of the Cortes to secure 
them their rights, they were ready enough to take the 
Cortes at its word when it declared what those rights 
were. 

The military exploits of Morelos were checked 
neither by the publication nor by the suspension of 
the new Constitution. They included the brilhant 
evacuation of Cuautla, and the capture of Tehuacan, 
Orizaba, and Oaxaca, in 1812. The first-named place 
was a town of about five thousand inhabitants. In 
some unexplained manner, Morelos had permitted 
himself to be shut up in this town with several of his 
brave lieutenants and with not more than three thou- 
sand soldiers. General Calleja appeared before the 
town with twelve thousand men, perfectly equipped 
and well disciplined. He was certain of success 
when he attacked the town, on the nineteenth of Feb- 
ruary. But he was repulsed, and forced to lay siege. 
The little army within the town suffered all the 
horrors of siege until the second of May. Attacks 



60 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

were made almost daily during that time, and the 
conduct of the besieged was marked by the highest 
heroism. 

The evacuation of the place is regarded as an in- 
stance of military genius. The soldiers of Morelos 
formed in three divisions and marched out of the 
town in the middle of the night, unobserved by the 
Spaniards until they reached a deep barranca (moun- 
tain gorge) some distance beyond the Spanish lines. 
The Spaniards then discovered the movement, and 
made an attack ; but the Independents, by a pre- 
concerted signal, suddenly dispersed to rendezvous 
elsewhere. The Spanish troops began to fire upon 
one another in the darkness. So well executed was 
the manoeuvre on the part of the Independents, that 
only seventeen men were missing at the appointed 
rendezvous. 

After this brilliant retreat, Morelos continued his 
successes in other regions. In the towns captured 
by him toward the end of the year, much rich booty 
was secured. In Oaxaca particularly, sixty cannon, 
one thousand muskets, and many prisoners, were 
taken. 

In March, 1813, General F^Hx Maria Calleja del 
Rey succeeded Venegas as Viceroy. He had been 
knighted because of his success at the battle of 
Puente de Calderon, and was now the Count of 
Calderon. The order for the change in the admin- 
istration of affairs in New Spain was dated on the 
sixteenth of September in the previous year, — the 
date most significant in Mexican history. Calleja 
was totally indifferent to the provisions of the Con- 
stitution of 1812, and continued the pursuit of the 
Independents, which he had begun in the time of 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 61 

Hidalgo, with such vigor as to gain for himself the 
title of "The Cruel." 

After making the important captures above men- 
tioned, Morelos made a mistake similar to that of 
Hidalgo, and instead of following up the advantage 
he had gained and advancing upon the capital with 
every prospect of taking it, he returned to the scene 
of his first military operations, besieged Acapulco, 
and compelled its surrender, in August, 1813. He 
then called a Congress of Mexicans, numbering forty 
deputies, from the different provinces under the con- 
trol of the Independents. This Congress was to com- 
bine with the Junta of Zitacuaro, and take steps 
toward the organization of an independent nation. 
The deputies were elected by popular vote, and as- 
sembled in the month of September, 1813, in fihil- 
pantzingo, about a hundred and thirty miles south of 
IFeTJityof Mexico. Among the members were More- 
los, Liceaga, Rayon, Verduzco, Cos, Carlos Maria 
Bustamante, and other distinguished patriots. 

This Congress issued an important manifesto, show- 
ing the principles of the revolution at that time. It 
declared that the sovereignty resided in the people. 
Spain and America were integral parts of one mon- 
archy, subject to the same king, — equal, and without 
any dependence upon or subordination to each other. 
America, because of her fidelity to Fernando, had 
more right to convoke the C6rtes and call together 
representatives of the few patriots of Spain than Spain 
had to call from America deputies who were not 
worthy representatives of Mexico. In the absence of 
the King, the inhabitants of the Peninsula had no 
right to arrogate to themselves the sovereign power 
over these Western dominions, and all orders ema- 



62 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

nating from such a source were absolutely null and 
entitled to no obedience. In refusing to submit to 
an arbitrary power, the American nation was only 
exercising its proper and inherent rights ; and so far 
from this being high treason or a crime, it was a 
proof of patriotism worthy of the King's gratitude, 
and which he would undoubtedly approve if he were 
on the spot. After what had occurred, both in the 
Peninsula and in Mexico, since the overthrow of the 
throne in Spain, the Mexicans were right in demand- 
ing such guarantees for the Dominion of New Spain 
for its legitimate sovereign, free from the intervention 
of any European people. 

After this preamble, the manifesto went on to make 
the following demands. The European residents of 
Mexico were to resign the command of the armed 
forces into the hands of a national Congress, inde- 
pendent of Spain, which was to represent Fernando 
VII. and secure his rights in Mexico. They might, 
however, if they so chose, remain as citizens under the 
protection of the laws, and under a guarantee of safety 
as to their persons, families, and property. Such Eu- 
ropeans as were then in office were to remain with 
the honors, privileges, and distinctions thereof, and a 
part of the emoluments ; but they were not to ex- 
ercise any official functions. The most effective 
measures were to be advocated with the independence 
of Mexico in view; and all the people of the land, 
Creoles as well as Europeans, were to constitute 
themselves a nation of American citizens, subjects 
of Fernando YII., bent only upon promoting the 
pubhc welfare. On such a basis, Mexico would be 
able to contribute for the prosecution of the war in 
Spain such sums as Congress might appropriate, as 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 63 

evidence of the fraternal relations existing between 
Mexico and the Peninsula and as proof of their com- 
mon aspirations. The Europeans who might desire 
to leave Mexico were to be granted passports for 
whatever place they wished, but in such case public 
officials were not to be allowed any part of their 
official pay. 

An important part of the document was devoted 
to propositions regarding the prosecution of the war 
then in progress in Mexico. It was declared to 
be a war between brethren and fellow-citizens. The 
two contending parties both acknowledged Fernando 
VII. as their sovereign. Of this the Mexicans had 
given proof by swearing allegiance to Fernando, by 
proclaiming him in every part of the country, by 
carrying his portrait upon their banners, by invoking 
his name in their official acts, and by stamping it 
upon their coinage. The war ought not, therefore, 
to be more cruel than one between foreign nations. 
The rights of nations and the rules of war, observed 
even among infidel and savage people, ought certainly 
to be regarded among those who were subjects of the 
same sovereign. The contest, if it were indeed in- 
evitable, should be carried on, as far as possible, in 
such manner as to be least shocking to humanity. 
Prisoners of war should not be treated as guilty of 
high treason, and sentenced to death as criminals for 
causes purely political. If kept as hostages for pur- 
poses of exchange, they should not be placed in irons, 
but treated each according to his proper condition. 
By the rules of war, eifusion of blood was only per- 
missible in the act of combat. The Spaniards had 
need to be reminded of this. When the combat was 
over, no one should be killed, nor should those who 



64 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

threw down their arms or fled be fired upon. They 
might be made prisoners by the victors. The severest 
penalties should be meted out to such as entered 
defenceless towns with fire and sword, or assigned 
persons to be shot by tenths or fifths, and thus con- 
founded the innocent with the guilty. 

Ecclesiastical tribunals were not to interfere in 
what was clearly and exclusively an affair of the 
state, and in no way connected with the cause of 
religion. The Independents avowed their profound 
respect and veneration for the clergy, and recognized 
the clergy's jurisdiction in matters relating to their 
sacred calling. But if the clergy were not restrained 
in their present inclinations, the Independents would 
not be responsible for what might result from popular 
indignation. And if the propositions set forth in 
the manifesto were not accepted by the Europeans to 
whom they were submitted, the Independents would 
be forced to pursue a policy of vigorous reprisals. 

Had the offers of this admirable declaration of 
rights been accepted by the Viceregal government, 
not only might Mexico have remained to Spain for 
many years, but the subsequent history of Spain 
itself might have been differently written. The 
Viceroy, however, instead of according to the docu- 
ment the courteous consideration it deserved, treated 
it as a treasonable paper, and had it ceremoniously 
burned by the public executioner in the Plaza Mayor 
of the City of Mexico. 

The Congress of Chilpantzingo, under date of 
September 15, nominsTBed Morelos Captain-General 
of the forces of the Independents, and proceeded to 
pass decrees abolishing slavery, imprisonment for debt, 
and the collection of tithes for the support of religious 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 65 

houses. This action indicated some of the abuses 
existing in the political system of New Spain to which 
political reformers were beginning to awaken, and 
foreshadowed some of the reforms which were to 
occupy the thoughts of publicists at a later period. 

The Congress first removed to Tlacotepec, and 
finally convened in Apatzingan. There, on the six- - 
^-teBlitElDf November, 1813, it pubhshed its formal 
Declaration of Independence of Spain. " Mexico was 
declared free from Spanish control, with liberty to 
work out its own destiny and with the Roman Catholic 
Religion for its spiritaal guidance." The name chosen 
for the new nation was " The Kingdom of Anahuac," 
— under the misapprehension that there had been an 
Aztec empire of that name before the advent of the 
Europeans. A Constitution was adopted, liberal in 
its provisions; and Liceaga, Morelos, and Dr. Cos 
were named as the Poder Ejecutivo (Executive Power) 
to carry it into effect. Both the Declaration and the 
Constitution had the distinction of being ceremoni- 
ously burned in public, by order of the Viceroy, in 
the City of Mexico and in the principal towns of the 
country. 

The Declaration of Independence made but a 
slight impression upon the popular mind, for various 
reasons, — least of all for the treatment it received at 
the hands of the Viceroy ; and the hberal Constitu- 
tion appealed even less than the Declaration to the 
Mexicans. For one thing, the fortunes of Morelos 
had begun to wane. Furthermore, there was lack 
of harmony in the Congress of Chilpantzingo ; nor 
were the members of the Poder Ejecutivo wholly of 
one mind upon political subjects and as to what was 
best for the welfare of Mexico. Some of the deputies 



66 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

in the Congress of Chilpantzingo desired to establish 
the traditional colonial system under the Constitution 
of 1812. Others desired to adopt purely American 
institutions modelled after those of the United States. 
The partisan spirit thus rising was marked by great 
bitterness. There was a similar want of unanimity 
between Congress and the military authorities of the 
Independents. But it was news received from Spain 
at this time that most powerfully affected the fortunes 
of the Declaration and of the Constitution. 

Before the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1814, he 
had hoped that by releasing Fernando from his 
captivity and sending him back to Spain he might 
create divisions in France by which his own interests 
could be served. He accordingly executed a treaty 
with his royal captive, and released him. Fernando 
ignored the Cortes altogether, and sent notices of his 
release, and of the treaty concluded with Napoleon, 
to the Regency of Spain. He entered Madrid in 
May, and began at once to carry out his plans for the 
reestablishment of absolutism. He rejected the Con- 
stitution of 1812, and restored the religious orders 
to the dominant position they had held before their 
suspension by that Constitution. He abolished the 
Cortes, and burned the official records of its proceed- 
ings. He reestablished the Inquisition, and appointed 
a Grand Inquisitor, by whom fifty thousand persons 
were imprisoned and not a few were put to the torture. 
In pursuance of Fernando's decrees, all adherents 
of the Cortes were exiled, and all Liberals, Free 
Masons, and the purchasers of property nationalized 
under decrees of the C6rtes, were relentlessly 
persecuted. 

The news of the return of Fernando to Spain, and 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 67 

of his action in regard to the Constitution of 1812, 
caused dissension among the adherents of the Vice- 
regal government in Mexico; and the Independents 
might have profited by taking advantage of these 
circumstances, had they maintained harmony among 
themselves. The action of Fernando rendered him 
persona non grata to those Mexicans whose " rebel- 
lion " had been against what they had regarded as an 
improperly constituted authority opposed to him, and 
who had been all the while loyal to him as their King. 
For they had learned to rebel against absolutism in 
any form, — against even a king, if he were oppressive. 
They were furthermore interested in the Cortes to the 
extent of being committed to some of the principles 
set forth by that body. But while the Declaration of 
Independence, the Constitution of Apatzingan, and 
the Poder Ejecutivo furnished bases of union and 
government for the Independents, there was such lack 
of harmony among the Mexicans that they failed to 
attract adlierents. So, though the revolt against 
Spain was renewed and invigorated, there was no 
definite purpose set before the revolutionists, and the 
general result was anarchical, the government of the 
Viceroy being the more conservative of the two then 
claiming to exist in Mexico. 

Morelos had been anxious to establish himself in 
Valladolid and make that place the basis of his future 
mihtary operations. No doubt there was a senti- 
mental regard for his birthplace as an actuating motive 
in this matter, — Mexicans are apt to be thus moved, 
and their national history exhibits many similar 
instances, — though there was also the possibility of 
being better connected with the Independents of the 
Provincias Internas, as the region was called in which 



68 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Guanajuato, Guadalajara, and other important towns, 
were lo^)3ted. So he set out for Yalladohd, just after 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, hav- 
ing seven thousand men in his command. Mata- 
moros was able to defeat the Spaniards at Palmar, and 
to capture the famous " Invincibles " of Asturias. 
This destroyed the prestige of Spanish military superi- 
ority in Mexico, and gave the people some encourage- 
ment. But less favorable occurrences were in store 
for the army of Morelos. 

Congress and the Poder Ujecutivo were forced to 
flee before the troops of the Viceroy, and Ario was 
selected as the headquarters of the Provisional Govern- 
ment. Discord continued among the members of this 
body, and of the Congress. Differences of political 
opinion caused the death of several prominent Inde- 
pendents at the hands of others. Dr. Cos took 
grounds upon some subject contrary to Morelos, and 
the latter promptly condemned him to death. He 
had worked hard and sacrificed much for the Independ- 
ents, and in disgust at the treatment he received he 
now sought reconciliation with the Europeans and 
with the Church, applied to the Viceroy for pardon 
for his political derelictions, and spent the rest of his 
life in the discharge of the duties of his priestly 
office. 

It was evident that another act in the drama of 
Mexican Independence was about to close. Morelos 
undertook to make a junction with the troops of 
Mier y Teran (who was in Tehuacan in the province 
of Puebla), and to place Congress under the latter's 
protection. He had but five hundred men with him, 
and had. to traverse sixty leagues of a country of 
which the Spaniards were in full possession. His 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENCE 69 

despatches were intercepted, and General Mier y Teran 
did not learn of his projected movements until too 
late to extend him aid. Morelos was attacked near 
Texmalaca, on the fifteenth of November. He ordered 
an officer to continue his march with the main body 
of the troops, and to escort the Congress to a place of 
safety, while he with fifty men attempted to divert 
the attention of the attacking Spanish troops. He 
regarded the safety of Congress of more importance 
to the future of the country than his own life. 

Morelos was soon captured, loaded with chains, 
and taken a prisoner to the capital. There his case 
was brought before the Holy Office, which, after 
having been suspended by the Constitution of 1812, 
had been reestablished in January, 1814, partly for 
the purpose of combating the " spread of revolutionary 
ideas in Mexico." His condemnation was a foregone 
conclusion. It was pronounced on the twenty-sixth 
of November, and his was the final auto-de-fe of that 
tribunal in Mexico, if not in the world. After de- 
grading him from the priesthood, as had been done in 
the case of Hidalgo, and condemning him to do pen- 
ance in a penitent's robe, the Inquisitors handed him 
over to the secular arm. The inflammatory effect his 
execution might have upon the popular mind if too 
publicly accomplished was fully appreciated by the 
Spanish authorities, and the Viceroy had the prisoner 
removed to a small town in the vicinity of the capital. 
He was shot, on the twenty-first or twenty-second of 
December, 1815, at San Cristobal Ecatepec. From 
the time of his capture he persistently refused to 
answer any questions regarding his fellow-patriots or 
their plans. At his execution, after praying for the 
emancipation of his country, he said : " Lord, if I 



70 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

have done well, Thou knowest it ; if ill, to Thy in- 
finite mercy I commend my soul." With Morelos 
ended the heroic days of the Mexican Revolution. 

Congress convened in Tehuacan, attempted to fill 
the vacancy in the Poder Ejecutivo caused by the cap- 
ture and death of Morelos, and then gave its attention 
to subordinate matters rather than to affairs of state. 
It voted to each of its members an ample salary, and 
gave to one of them the management of the public 
funds. It made Mier y Teran (who was the logical 
successor to Morelos as Captain-General of the army, 
and who was more of a statesman than any of the 
Independents had thus far shown themselves to be) 
subject to the will of a body of men whom he humor- 
ously described as ostentatiously calling each other 
"Your Most Honorable," while neglecting to trans- 
act any public business. 

Mier y Teran finally dissolved Congress vl et armis, 
and put its members under arrest. He justified his 
action in a manifesto wherein he showed that Con- 
gress was inimical to him and was about to deprive 
him of his military command, which, as he declared, 
had not been derived from Congress and was not 
under its control. As Congress at that time had 
little influence, and had begun to practise the dis- 
honest political methods learned of the Spanish offi- 
cials and in large measure characteristic of later 
Mexican office-holders, the step he took was a neces- 
sary one, whatever question there might be as to his 
right to take it. He liberated the members almost 
immediately, gave each some money, and allowed 
them to depart from Tehuacan. The incident was, 
however, fatal to the revolutionary movement then in 
progress. The various military chiefs were again left 



THE STRUGGLE FOB INDEPENDENGE 71 

without any unifying authority over them, and every 
man became a law unto himseK. This permitted the 
Spanish forces to crush, one after another, the Inde- 
pendent leaders, and to disperse their bands of fol- 
lowers. The struggle rapidly assumed the conditions 
of guerrilla warfare. 

Mier y Teran was the most influential and promi- 
nent member of an Executive Junta which succeeded 
to the Congress and Poder Ujeeutivo, and for a while 
he was the most active of the military chiefs. But it 
was apparent that the cause of Independence was 
languishing. There was no directing power to which 
the various military chiefs could bow. Each was ab- 
solute over his immediate followers, and would brook 
no interference from another. A combination of any 
two or more forces was rendered impossible by reason 
of mutual jealousies and distrust. Their movements, 
independent of each other, though constantly harass- 
ing to the Viceregal government, accomplished no 
good whatever to Mexico. In fact, the Viceroy was 
justified in regarding them in the same category with 
brigands and banditti. 

Under these circumstances, many of the wealthy 
and intelligent people of Mexico began to look to the 
standard of Spain as the symbol of law and good 
government, and there was every prospect that quiet 
would be gradually restored to the land. The people 
were especially flattered by the policy which Spain 
now began to adopt, of employing the natives of the 
country — Creoles and Meztizos — in offices of trust 
and profit. Antonio Perez, a Mexican priest of learn- 
ing, talent, and character, was, by way of example, 
made Bishop of Puebla. This had the effect of recon- 
ciling a large number of the inferior clergy who had 



72 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

previously been sympathizers with Hidalgo, Morelos, 
Matamoros, and Navarete, and the most deteimined 
opponents of European domination. The government 
furthermore employed every means consistent with 
prudence to secure the allegiance of a large body of 
native soldiers, and to discipline them ; and retained 
only five thousand Spanish troops in the country. 

Meanwhile, however, Calleja's cruelties continued. 
Matamoros had been executed after being taken pris- 
oner at the battle of Paruaran, in February, 1813. 
Francisco Rayon, the brother of Ignacio, was executed 
the day of Morelos' death. Some patriotic women 
were cast into prison. Galeana, another of the old 
stock of insurgents, was defeated in battle, taken pris- 
oner, and, in violation of the rules of war, beheaded. 
These are but examples of the methods by which the 
bloodthirsty Calleja sought to uphold the Viceregal 
power, at a time when statesmanship would have 
accomplished far more than militar}^ rigor. 

When, in September, 1816, Calleja del Rey was suc- 
ceeded in the Vireinate by Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, 
the revolution appeared to have been crushed out. 
The freebooting expedition of Francisco Javier Mina, 
a Navarrese sympathizer with the Independents of 
Mexico, was cut short by his defeat at Venadito, in 
October, 1817; and his execution followed the next 
month. This expedition was, in fact, scarcely more 
than an effort on Mina's part to transfer to Mexico 
the guerrilla warfare he had carried on in Spain. 
It failed to awaken any enthusiasm in the people 
generally. He had set forth as his object the estab- 
lishment of the Independence of Mexico on a consti- 
tutional basis without the separation of the country 
from Spain. 



THE STEUGGLS FOR INDEPENDENCE 73 

Excepting for Mina's military operations, Mexico 
was little disturbed by actual war after the capture 
of Morelos, until 1820, The policy of the new Vice- 
roy was conciliatory, and did more in a short time to 
suppress the revolution than all the rigors of F^lix 
Maria Calleja del Rey had done in all the years in 
which he ruled Mexico with a rod of iron. Some of 
the Independent leaders accepted the pardon offered 
by Apodaca, and joined the party of the Viceroy. 
Only a few patriots suffered imprisonment. Rayon, 
deserted by his professed followers, was captured and 
detained in prison in the capital until 1821. In 1828 
he was a General, held in high esteem by the people ; 
but he disappeared from view in the later liistory of 
the country. Verduzco fell into the hands of the 
Spanish, and escaped execution only by taking advan- 
tage of the general amnesty offered under the Consti- 
tution of 1812, when it was reestablished in Spain. 
Liceaga was assassinated by one of his own captains. 
Mier y Teran surrendered, and retired to private life. 
In 1819 the Viceroy reported to the Regency that he 
would answer for the safety of Mexico, and that there 
was no need of sending any more troops from Spain. 

Nevertheless there were a few scattered military 
leaders v/ho held out against the offers of the Viceroy 
and the blandishments of the Constitution of 1812. 
These were destined to become conspicuous in the 
subsequent history of the country. F^lix Fernan- 
dez's adventures in the mountain passes read like a 
romance. Juan Alvarez, a full-blooded Indian, was 
operating in the south ; and Vicente Guerrero was 
fighting for tJie Independence of his country in the 
region already famous by reason of the military ex- 
ploits of Morelos. 



74 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 



CHAPTER IV 

THE "PLAN DE IGUALA," THE TREATY OF C&R- 
DOBA, AND THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 

UPON Fernando's reestablishment of Absolut- 
ism in Spain, a revolution broke out in that 
country. In 1820, the Constitution of 1812 
was proclaimed by the revolutionists in Saragossa, 
and Fernando found himself under the necessity of 
proclaiming it in Madrid, and convening the C6rtes. 
His speech at the opening of that body was remark- 
able for its expressions of liberal sentiments, and for 
its general hypocrisy. The C6rtes proceeded to re- 
store its former work: it dissolved the convents, 
abolished the Inquisition (this time finally), ordained 
the freedom of the press and the right of holding 
popular meetings and forming political clubs, and 
even went so far as to seize the tithes of the secular 
clergy on the grounds that the money was required 
by the State in a great emergency. 

When the restored Constitution and the decrees of 
the C6rtes came to be promulgated in Mexico, there 
was a great commotion among the European resi- 
dents there. The results were almost the opposite 
of what had been expected in Spain. The people 
were at the time excited over an election in which 
they were to exercise the suffrage, and the spirit 
of Independence was about to break forth again. 
The Creoles were of course pleased with the restora- 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 75 

tion of the Constitution, whereby their rights were 
recognized and enlarged. The Europeans, however, 
were divided in their opinions. Some were favorable 
to the new order of things, while others preferred the 
old system under which they had fattened and grown 
wealthy. The pay of the army was reduced under 
the new system, and this caused widespread discon- 
tent in that powerful political body. 

In Spain, the adherents of the King in his struggle 
with the liberal party were known as " Serviles." 
The Serviles among the Europeans of New Spain 
thought of offering a refuge to Fernando in Mexico, 
and thus securing to the clergy through him the 
rights of which they were deprived by the Constitu- 
tion and the liberal decrees of the C6rtes. The Vice- 
roy, Apodaca, was under the influence of the Serviles. 
After taking the oath prescribed by the Cortes to 
support the Constitution, he was really planning its 
overthrow. 

The clergy of Mexico now found themselves forced 
into a curious position. Under orders from the Pope, 
they had, nine years before, opposed the revolution 
in Mexico, and had denounced as heretical the idea of 
Independence or separation from Spain. But that 
was at a time when they felt that Spain and the 
Spanish system were the only conservators of their 
rights and privileges. Now they found their rights 
and privileges menaced from that very quarter. The 
liberal Constitution took from them much valuable 
property and many prized prerogatives. It was 
the liberalism of Spain, not that of Mexico, that 
now threatened religion itself. Their interests de- 
manded " an absolute separation from Spain and its 
radicalism." 



76 FEOM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The clergy began to hold secret consultations with 
their closest adherents among the " Old Spaniards," 
and to devise means whereby the rights and preroga- 
tives of the religious orders might be conserved, the 
immense revenues of the Church saved, and the co- 
operation of the people of Mexico (whom they had 
previously estranged) secured in their interests. The 
Spanish treasury was knov/n to be exhausted, the 
army was unpaid and ready to mutiny, and there 
were other indications that should the struggle for 
Independence be renewed it would be successful. It 
was a foregone conclusion that sooner or later an 
independent nation would be established in Mexico. 
It seemed best for the clergy and their friends to 
effect a compromise with the extreme Independents, 
and get control of the revolutionary movement. With 
this object in view, meetings were held in the Church 
of the Profesa in the City of Mexico, and were at- 
tended by " Old Spaniards," Creoles, and the more 
influential Meztizos. The clergy were, of course, 
largely represented. As a result of these meetings, 
a plan of action was agreed upon for accomphshing 
what Hidalgo, Morelos, and thousands of heroes had 
fought and died for — the Independence of Mexico. 

Prominent among those interested in this new 
movement was Agustin de Iturbide, who was des- 
tined to take a very prominent part in the affairs 
of Mexico. He was a native of Valladolid (now 
Morelia), and a Meztizo, his father being Spanish 
and his mother a Mexican; but he was regarded 
as a Creole, and was generally so termed. He had 
entered the provincial militia at the age of sixteen, 
was rapidly promoted until he reached the rank of 
colonel, and in 1820 was in his thirty-eighth year. 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 11 

Upon the outbreak of the revolution under Hidalgo, 
he looked into the nature of the quarrel between 
Mexico and Spain, and at first espoused the cause 
of his native land. But he soon afterwards joined 
the troops organized for the support of the Viceregal 
government. Up to 1820, the energy, not to say 
vindictive cruelty, with which he had pursued the 
revolutionists left no grounds for suspicion as to the 
direction of his sympathies in political affairs. But 
he had recently been removed from the army for 
some malfeasance, and was an idler in the City 
of Mexico, devoting himself to religious exercises 
and extending his intercourse with the clergy. He 
was handsome in person, of elegant address and 
pohshed manners, and was highly esteemed by the 
clergy, through whose influence he regained much 
of the popularity he had lost by his cruelties and his 
rupture mth the army and the government. 

His rapid promotion in the Viceregal army stimu- 
lated his ambition, and his observation of affairs in 
Spain changed his political views. With the entire 
separation of Mexico from Spain, there would be no 
chances for his further advancement, civil or military. 
He had nothing to hope from the Mexicans, having 
been a bitter opponent of the Independents. If, on 
the other hand, he were allied to the successful party, 
and had a hand in effecting the separation which he 
now concluded was inevitable, his chances for promo- 
tion under the new regime would be greatly enhanced. 
He believed that the cause of Independence could be 
made to triumph by effecting a union of the Euro- 
peans, the Creoles or Meztizos, and the Revolutionists, 
under a " Plan " then under discussion at the Church 
of the Profesa. He was taking an active part in the 



78 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

meetings being held there, and afterwards claimed to 
have originated the "Plan" which was finally adopted. 

When the necessity for a military leader arose, the 
qualifications of Agustin de Iturbide were readily 
seen by the plotters at the Church of the Profesa, 
and he was selected for that position. The military 
leader being thus secured, it became necessary to 
secure an army for him to lead. This was accom- 
plished by inducing the unsuspecting Viceroy to 
appoint Iturbide to the command of a native army 
which was preparing to destroy Vicente Guerrero, 
and proclaim in the western coasts of Mexico the 
restoration of the King's absolute authority, which 
the Viceroy was expecting simultaneously to proclaim 
in the capital. 

General Vicente Guerrero was the one revolution- 
ary chief who had refused all overtures from the 
Viceroy, and was still in formidable resistance to his 
authority. He was of humble origin, and was said 
to possess that drop of African blood in his veins 
which deprived him of the rights of Spanish citizen- 
ship under the Constitution of 1812. He had been a 
follower of Morelos, and had led bands of guerrillas 
after the defeat of that great patriot-priest. In March, 
1818, he was apparently the only general officer in 
resistance to the government of the Viceroy. Thus 
early he set to work to collect the scattered patriots 
and reorganize them for a final struggle. By a series 
of victories over the Viceregal forces in 1820, he won 
recognition as a formidable revolutionary leader. He 
was destined to become an important factor in the 
liberation of Mexico from Spanish domination. 

The army of Guerrero was threatening a march on 
the capital, where the military strength of the Vice- 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 79 

roy was concentrated, when Iturbicle was sent to 
destroy it and proclaim the absolute authority of the 
King. Iturbide left the capital, in November, 1820, 
with twenty-five hundred soldiers, and established 
himself near the headquarters of the Independent 
chief. He was in no haste, however, to engage in 
battle. He was convinced that by bringing the old 
insurgents to act in concert with the Creole troops, 
he might easily shake off the authority of Spain and 
proclaim the absolute Independence of Mexico. On 
these points there was a perfect understanding be- 
tween, him and the clerical schemers at the capital, 
rxhe following February (1821), an interview was 
arranged between the two military leaders. Iturbide 
disclosed his plan for the establishment of a Constitu- 
tional Monarchy in Mexico which should guarantee 
to the peojjle, (1) the Koman Catholic Religion, with- 
out toleration of any other, and with the rights, im- 
munities, and property of the clergy preserved and 
secured; (2) the absolute independence of the coun- 
try; and (3) the enjoyment of the same civil rights 
by all of the actual inhabitants of Mexico, whatever 
their birthplace or descent, — thus doing away with all 
distinctions of race or color. The scheme provided 
for the recognition of Fernando VII. as Emperor, pro- 
vided he would consent to occupy the throne in per- 
son and take an oath to observe the Constitution to 
be adopted by a Congress of the Mexican nation. 
Gug(rantees were to be given for the conservation of 
the property and rights of the clergy ; and provision 
was to be made for an army to take the Roman 
Catholic Religion under its protection, for a Mexican 
Congress to frame a Constitution, and for a governing 
junta pending the arrival of the King. 



80 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

On the twenty-fourth of February, 1821, Itu.rbide 
assembled the chief officers of his army at Iguala and 
presented to them a set of propositions for the institu- 
tion of a national government in Mexico in conform- 
ity with this scheme, to which was given the name 
of Las Tres Garantias (The Three Guarantees), 
though it has ever since been popularly known as 
the " Plan de Iguala " from the little village (now in 
the State of Guerrero) directly south of the capital, 
where it was announced to the army of the Viceroy. 
The " Three Guarantees " — Religion, Independence, 
and Union — were to be symbolized, in the national 
flag to be adopted, by the colors red, white, and 
green. 

The " Plan de Iguala " was more definite than any 
that had preceded it, and gave more certain promise 
of success. The concession on the part of the cleri- 
cal promoters of the plan was, of course, in regard to 
the equality of the various social classes ; all class dis- 
tinctions were to be abolished. Compensation for this 
concession was to be had in the protection which the 
clergy hoped to receive for their religious privileges. 
The proposal of adherence to Fernando was intended 
merely to deceive. When the Independents hesitated 
to accept a government under a Borbon prince, they 
were assured that there was little prospect of the exe- 
cution of that part of the plan, though the primary 
intention was to free Mexico from the domination of 
Spain and Spanish people, not from that of the King. 
It was necessary to have this provided for at the out- 
set, though it was generally understood that the pro- 
vision was not likely to be retained. The Mexicans 
generally, apart from the Independent leaders, knew 
little and cared less about the form of government to 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 81 

which they were to submit when once freed from that 
of the Viceroy and Audiencia ; and, visionary and im- 
practicable as it now appears, the idea of giving to 
Fernando VII. an Empire in the Western World, in 
place of one he had found so irksome in Spain under 
the constitutional restrictions imposed in 1812, was 
very attractive to the Mexican people at that time. 

It was, in fact, the Spanish Cortes that objected. 
The " Plan de Iguala " was a most impudent subver- 
sion of their plans. Fernando was, indeed, under 
their arrangement of affairs, a mere figure-head in the 
government of Spain and persona non grata to the 
Spanish people. But the Cortes preferred to have 
that figure-head kept at home. It was not the inten- 
tion to have the King transfer his capital from Madrid 
to the City of Mexico, and establish on American 
soil a new Empire to be the rival of the old. And 
although the C6rtes treated the matter with all seri- 
ousness when it came before it, it could not fail to 
see the ludicrous side of the Mexican proposal. 

Guerrero received the disclosures of Iturbide's plan, 
when first made to him, with uncontrolled joy, and 
at once ceded to the Meztizo Colonel the command 
of the " Army of the Three Guarantees," composed of 
his own forces and those under Iturbide, who swore 
to support the " Plan de Iguala." The news of the 
movement spread like wild-fire throughout the coun- 
try. Iturbide went into the Provincias Internas to 
arrange for its publication there, leaving Guerrero in 
command of the troops in the south. 

All the Viceroy's offers of money and political 
advancement failed to win the now revolutionary 
Commander-in-chief back to his former allegiance. 
Iturbide not only took with him the soldiers in his 

6 



82 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

immediate command, but he influenced many others 
to espouse the cause of the " Plan de Iguala." 
Pedro Celestino Negrete, who up to this time had 
been in command of a division of the Viceroy's troops, 
pronounced for the Plan in Guadalajara. Colonel 
Anastasio Bustamante, afterwards President of Mex- 
ico, with his whole regiment, declared in favor of 
the Plan; and the Creole troops, which had not 
joined in the previous revolutions, now came forward 
in support of this. Juan Alvarez, Carlos Maria Bus- 
tamante, Jose Joaquin de Herrera, Nicolas Bravo, 
and many others who were destined to attain to promi- 
nent places in the subsequent history of the country, 
gave in their adhesion to it. Antonio L6pez de Santa 
Anna, and others on the Gulf Coast, arose in support of 
the Plan ; F^lix Fernandez came forth from his hiding- 
place ; Revolutionary leaders who had retired from the 
struggle discouraged, again came to the front; and 
Iturbide soon found himself at the head of sixteen 
thousand men, all enthusiastic over the success of the 
new enterprise. The Bajio, Valladolid, Toluca, Quere- 
taro, Puebla, Durango, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, and other 
localities, came into the ranks of the " Three Guaran- 
tees.*' The Independence of the country seemed 
assured without the sacrifice of another drop of 
blood. 

Such were the conditions which caused the retire- 
ment of Viceroy Apodaca from Mexico. It is believed 
that he was at first inclined to favor the "Plan de 
Iguala " ; but when he saw the true state of affairs, 
and what it was that Iturbide was seeking to accom- 
plish, he declined the offer made to him of the Presi- 
dency of a junta to be created to carry the Plan into 
effect, and issued a proclamation warning the people 



TEE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 83 

against the new movement and offering pardon to all 
who would abandon the constantly growing forces of 
the " Three Guarantees." Nevertheless, the Serviles 
seemed to regard him with suspicion, and brought 
charges against him of lacking energyin an emergency 
and of taking no active measures against the Plan. 
The troops in the capital mutinied, and seemed in- 
clined to go over to the army of Iturbide. So Apo- 
daca resigned, and on the fifth of July, 1821, turned 
the government over to his Chief of Artillery, Fran- 
cisco de Novella. 

Apodaca is known in history as " The Unfortunate." 
Novella appears as Viceroy ad interim, but he did little 
by way of discharging the functions of the Viceregal 
office, and his term lasted but a few days. His author- 
ity was scarcely recognized. The Serviles failed to 
support him; the officers of the army ignored him. 
On the thirtieth of July, 1821, General Juan 
O'Donoju, bearing the commission of Captain-Gen- 
eral, arrived in Mexico to supersede Novella. Upon 
landing in San Juan de Ulua, he took the oath of 
office as Viceroy, and issued a proclamation declaring 
the liberality of his principles and the rectitude of his 
intentions, and holding out the prospect of arranging 
satisfactorily all that was desired by the "Plan de 
Iguala." He requested that hostilities might be 
suspended until he could consult with the Independ- 
ents and receive instructions from Spain. Vera Cruz 
was then in the hands of the Independents under 
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. O'Donoju w^as there- 
fore placed in the embarrassing position of having to 
ask of Santa Anna the privilege of landing upon the 
continent, and of requesting from Iturbide a safe- 
conduct to the capital. 



84 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

O'Donoju (whose name bespeaks his Irish origin) 
saw at a glance that it would be impossible to arrest 
the revolution by force, and he proposed to treat with 
Iturbide. Iturbide answered his letter by offering to 
meet him in C6rdoba; and there they met, on the 
twenty-fourth of August, 1821. With that date, the 
Independence of Mexico may be considered as begun. 
There was apparently no difficulty in getting O'Donoju 
to sign, on behalf of the government he was supposed 
to represent, what is known as the Treaty of C6rdoba. 

This Treaty embodied the "Plan de Iguala." It 
declared Mexico sovereign and independent, and pro- 
vided for a constitutional, representative monarchy; 
for the call of the Borbon family of Spain to the 
throne; and for the immediate establishment of a 
provisional government, pending the arrival of the 
chosen monarch. The Treaty also assured to the 
people the liberty of the press and the equal rights of 
Mexicans and Spaniards then residing in the country, 
and agreed that the army of the " Three Guarantees " 
should occupy the capital and that the Spanish troops 
should be sent out of the country as speedily as pos- 
sible. In accordance mth this stipulation. Colonel 
Herrera entered the capital, on the twenty-third of 
September, with a detachment of the Independent 
troops. The Commandant at San Juan de Ulua and 
Novella, in the City of Mexico, were the only promi- 
nent military officials who remained in opposition to 
the Treaty of C6rdoba ; and their following was but 
small. 

The Treaty of Cordoba having been secured, and 
all things being in readiness, Iturbide, on his thirty- 
ninth birthday (twenty-seventh of September), entered 
the capital in triumph at the head of his army. He 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 85 

was hailed as " The Liberator," and the occasion was 
marked by every demonstration of joy. He at once 
gave his attention to executing that clause of the 
Treaty which provided for a government ad interim. 
The provisional government, consisting of the Bishop 
of Puebla and two lay associates, selected Iturbide, 
O'Donoju, Manuel de la Barcena, Jos^ Isidro Yanez, 
and Manuel Vasquez de Leon, to compose the 
Regency. 

Barcena, Yanez, and Le6n are new names in the his- 
tory of these times. They were among the promoters 
of the " Plan de Iguala," and had previously taken no 
interest in the Independence of Mexico save to oppose 
the Revolutionists. The five Regents were without 
delay solemnly installed in the Cathedral, upon taking 
an oath to support the Treaty of C6rdoba. The 
Regency organized by electing Iturbide President. 
He appointed a ministry altogether inconsistent with 
the declared purposes of the " Plan de Iguala," and 
inadequate to the special demands of the times. The 
old Revolutionary party was completely ignored, and 
the portfolios of Hacienda (State), War and Marine, 
Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Domestic and 
Foreign Relations, were given to the new party of 
Independents, — those who had sought and obtained 
the separation from Spain through the "Plan de 
Iguala." 

The death of O'Donoju, on the eighth of October, 
enabled Iturbide to augment his powers still further. 
The Bishop of Puebla was appointed to the place of 
the deceased Viceroy in the Regency, and Iturbide 
conferred upon the prelate the honorary presidency 
of that body, while he retained for himself the com- 
mand of the army, with the title of Generalissimo and 



86 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

an annual salary of one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars, and thus grafted upon the political system 
of the new nation one of the worst features of the Old 
Spanish regime — ecclesiastical and military domina- 
tion. With the further title of " Lord High Admiral " 
conferred upon him, and addressed by the people as 
" Serene Highness," the Meztizo Colonel was within 
a step of the gratification of his loftiest ambition. He 
separated himself from the old Revolutionary leaders, 
ignored the services they might render him, allied 
himself with the army, and ingratiated himself with 
the clergy and aristocratic classes as most likely to 
serve him in time of need. 

A junta composed of thirty-eight " Notables," and 
more popularly constituted than the Regency, pro- 
ceeded to arrange for the organization of Congress, as 
contemplated by tlie " Plan de Iguala ; " but its mem- 
bers did not propose to accept too readily Iturbide's 
plans for the organization of that body. Instead of 
two houses of legislation, they proposed to allow but 
one, and that was to be composed of deputies elected 
by the people. In those provinces which were to 
send more than four deputies, they proposed that 
there should be one ecclesiastic, one military man, 
and one lawyer; and although all the members of the 
junta professed to be guided by the "• Plan de Iguala," 
a diversity of political views became apparent from 
the outset. Certain writers at this time began to pro- 
pose openly the adoption of the Repubhcan form 
of government. The public press began to attack the 
" Plan de Iguala." An organized movement toward 
the establishment of a Republic v/as actually dis- 
covered and suppressed by Negrete, toward the end of 
the year, and Felix Fernandez, Nicolas Bravo, and 



THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 87 

others, were made to suffer imprisonment in con- 
sequence thereof. 

When assembled, on the twenty-fourth of Febru- 
ary, 1822, Congress was found to comprise three 
distinct parties, notwithstanding the oath taken by 
each deputy to support the " Plan de Iguala " and 
the Treaty of Cordoba. The " Borbonistas " were 
the strictest adherents to the Plan and Treaty, and 
desired a constitutional monarchy with a Prince of 
the House of Borbon at its head. They comprised 
the Spaniards who had been unable to leave the 
country because of their valuable interests therein, 
and whose welfare could only be conserved by a 
strict construction of the Plan, of which they were, 
in fact, the original promoters. 

The " Republicans " desired that the Plan should 
be set aside, and a Federal Republic be instituted. 
They fully appreciated the difficulties in the way 
of realizing ^ their hopes, but they had begun to be 
suspicious of Iturbide; and being composed for the 
most part of the old Revolutionaiy leaders, they 
were naturally hostile to him personally. 

The third party called themselves " Iturbidistas." 
They accepted the '' Plan de Iguala," but, anticipat- 
ing the action of the Spanish Cortes in regard to the 
Treaty of Cordoba, they were preparing to substitute 
Iturbide for the Borbons named in the Plan and 
Treaty, and elevate him to an Imperial throne. 
These partisans of Iturbide comprised representatives 
of the arm}^, the clergy, and the more influential 
Creoles. The three political parties thus beginning 
to crystallize foreshadowed those which subsequently 
played foot-ball with the highest interests of the 
Mexican nation. 



88 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The declaration of the Spanish C6rtes that the 
Treaty of Cordoba was null and void, was received 
in Mexico at the time that the Constituent Assembly 
or Congress was organized under the Presidency of 
a pronounced opponent of Iturbide. The resolution 
of the C6rtes to make an effort to recover the Ameri- 
can provinces by reinforcing the troops in the revolt- 
ing countries, meant nothing more than an emphatic 
protest against the course affairs were taking; for 
Spain had neither money nor men to spare at the 
time. And the immediate result in Mexico was that 
the " Borbonistas " ceased to exist as a party, and the 
interests of the Congress were narrowed down to those 
of the " Iturbidistas " and Republicans. The latter 
were led by such men as Guerrero, Fernandez, Bravo, 
and others of their class, and were augmented by the 
former " Borbonistas." They were bitterly opposed 
to the further advancement of Iturbide. Guerrero 
naturally felt that he was entitled to some recognition 
in the distribntion of honors under the new regime. 

Congress, which was largely dominated by the 
Republicans, placed further obstacles in the way of 
Iturbide' s progress toward the gratification of his 
ambition. The reduction of the army was a blow 
aimed at his personal support. The Regency was 
deposed, and General Bravo, the Count of Heras, and 
Miguel Valentin were placed in their stead. A de- 
cree inhibiting the members of the Regency from 
bearing arms, intended to suppress Iturbide' s candi- 
dacy for the Imperial throne, passed to its third read- 
ing, and was about to be adopted, when Iturbide 
made up his mind that it was time for his friends to 
take the final step necessary to secure the ends he 
had in view. 



THE FIBST MEXICAN EMPIRE 89 

On the eighteenth of May, 1822, the " Liberator " 
obtained a pronunciamento in his favor in the cuartel 
of San Hipolito in the capital. The ostensible 
leader in the movement was one Pio Marcha, a ser- 
geant in the First Regiment of Infantry, who but for 
this would have been absolutely unknown to history ; 
and despite his important relation to the incidents 
now brought to our attention, obtained no greater 
promotion than to a captaincy. He was seconded 
by Epitacio Sanchez, Colonel of a regiment of Horse 
Guards, and the movement spread to the various 
cuartels of the city and was assisted by demonstra- 
tions in favor of Iturbide in the theatres and by 
salvos of artillery in the streets. Enthusiasm is 
infectious, and to any disinterested spectator in the 
City of Mexico that day it would undoubtedly have 
appeared that the popularity of Iturbide had been 
increasing rather than diminishing since he made his 
triumphal entry into the city as the Liberator of his 
people, and that the whole city had determined upon 
his becoming the Emperor of the nation. 

In a turbulent meeting of the Congress, from which 
the Republican members were in a measure excluded, 
and in which the influence of Iturbide was by various 
means greatly extended, — with the galleries filled 
with his friends, who were instructed to applaud at 
any mention of his name, — Iturbide was elected 
Emperor of Mexico by a vote of seventy-seven to 
fifteen. If we may accept his own account of these 
proceedings, his election was greeted with unre- 
strained enthusiasm, and the air was rent with shouts 
of " Viva el JSmperador I Viva Agustiyi I. ! " 

He immediately took the oath of office before Con- 
gress, and organized a Provisional Council of State, 



90 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

composed of' thirteen persons. Then, to the neglect 
of matters upon which the welfare of the nation and 
the happiness of the people depended, he applied 
himself to the arrangement of the succession to the 
throne and the titles to be borne by the members 
of the Imperial family. On the twenty-fifth of July 
he was anointed and crowned in the Cathedral 
in Mexico, and assumed the title of "Agustin L, 
Emperador." 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 91 




CHAPTER V 

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE, THE RISE OF THE 
REPUBLIC, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF 1824 

THE Empire over whicli Iturbide thus became 
ruler was the third largest in extent of ter- 
ritory of any in the vforld, — China and 
Russia alone being larger. Of the former posses- 
sions of Spain in the North American continent, it 
lacked the Province of Louisiana, of which Carlos 
IV. had disposed without regard to the wishes of his 
subjects ; and the Province of Florida, nearly sixty- 
seven thousand square miles, which Fernando YII. 
had sold to the United States in 1819. Shortly after 
the establishment of the Independence of Mexico, 
Guatemala separated from that country, and Chiapas 
became a part of Mexico's territory. The Empire 
was divided into five Captaincies-General, and in- 
cluded a large and but partially explored territory 
north of the Rio Grande del Norte, extending to the^ 
Pacific Ocean. 

It was a nation of magnificent opportunities. Its 
natural resources were without limit ; and had Itur- 
bide been guided by counsels of prudence, and had 
he known something about government, the liistory 
of the Mexican Empire might have been differently 
written. Had he been more desirous of emulating 
the virtues of Washington, and less influenced by 
the example of Napoleon Bonaparte, he might have 



92 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

laid the foundations of a nation whose development 
would have been steady and continuous. But he 
soon proved himself a foolish sovereign, and his 
Empire was short-lived. His head was turned by his 
sudden elevation. He drove about the capital, invit- 
ing the admiration of the people, and too plainly ex- 
hibiting the delight which it afforded him. He gave 
attention to the devising of court pageants, rather 
than to the more important affairs of government. 
He instituted an order of nobility, calling the mem- 
bers " Gentlemen of Guadalupe," — which caused the 
members of the Spanish nobility who still resided in 
Mexico to express their disgust with what they called 
" a caricature of the European system." The attempt 
at regal splendor which marked his establishment in 
Tacubaya was criticised, and he was sneered at for 
the attention which he bestowed — out of all propor- 
tion to their importance — upon his person, his car- 
riage, and his clothes. His arrogant manner was such 
as to draw out the caustic remark that " he seemed 
to believe that he dominated the world." 

Had he confined his authority within constitutional 
bounds, both he and his Empire might have fared 
otherwise than they did. But he forgot that his 
Empire was but an experiment, and that his throne 
rested upon a very unstable foundation. It was to 
the intense disgust of the Old Spaniards remaining 
in the country, of the Creole aristocracy and of the 
privileged classes, who could ill endure the elevation 
of a Creole Colonel to an Imperial throne over their 
heads, as well as to that of the sturdy old Revolution- 
ary leaders with expanding Republican ideas, that he 
assumed the airs of hereditary royalty. 

A monarchical government for Mexico fell far short 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 93 

of meeting the ideas of the Revolutionary leaders. 
Some of them had ambitions equal to those of Itur- 
bide, and it was far from agreeable to them to witness 
his elevation and find themselves without any politi- 
cal reward for all their patriotic services and pre- 
cluded from all hope of promotion. It was not for 
Iturbide's aggrandizement that they had sacrificed 
fortune and incurred the perils of the battle-field. 
The Empire of Iturbide seemed a poor result for the 
sacrifice of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, Jimenez, Mat- 
amoros, Morelos, Galeana, and a hundred other dis- 
interested and pure-minded patriots. 

Iturbide's conduct in the use of the power thus 
suddenly bestowed upon him increased the opposition 
he had aroused. His rule was arbitrary and dicta- 
torial. He claimed the right to veto any article of 
the Constitution which the " Constituent Assembly " 
(as Congress was called) was laboring hard to provide, 
and the absolute right to appoint judges for the tri- 
bunals which the Assembly created. He urged the 
creation of a military tribunal which was to have 
jurisdiction in civil causes. He placed repeated ob- 
stacles in the way of popular government, and thus 
instituted theories of CentraHsm destined to cause seri- 
ous trouble to the country in the future and require 
the expenditure of lives and fortunes to correct. 

The Emperor's proposal for the establishment of 
military tribunals was rejected by Congress, and an 
open breach was created between the Executive and 
Legislative branches of the government. Iturbide 
arbitrarily imprisoned some of the most distinguished 
members of Congress, and established a Junta of 
Notables comprising two deputies from each province. 
This action Congress resented as an insult. A revo- 



94 FROM EMPIRE TO BEPUBLIG 

lutionary movement resulted, and on the thirty-first 
of October Iturbide issued an Imperial decree dis- 
solving Congress. The Junta of Notables possessed 
little influence of its own, but served as the tool of 
the Emperor. Forced loans were made and paper 
money was issued by its authority. The new nation 
thus displayed its lack of credit and resources at a 
time when it was incurring extraordinary expenses. 
The Junta was responsible for the interception and 
appropriation by the government, at Vera Cruz, of a 
Gonducta^ the greater part of which belonged to Span- 
iards. The young Empire was thus chargeable with 
pursuing a system of ethics in public matters learned 
from the Spanish officials in the times of the Vice- 
roys, and unfortunately too often practised subse- 
quently in the Kepublic of Mexico. It is no wonder 
that it fell into disrepute, and aroused the same feel- 
ing of resentment as that which had existed against 
the government of Viceroy and Audiencia. 

A growing lack of confidence in the capacity of 
Iturbide for government, as well as in the integrity 
of his motives and the honesty of his actions, led to 
efforts to overthrow him. Opposition to the Empire 
first took form in an Assembly composed of liberals 
who favored a Republic. The dissemination of trac- 
tates and pamphlets setting forth Eepublican ideas, the 
rights of citizenship, and the defects of an aristocratic 
form of government, led to a manifestation of the 
spirit of rebellion; and it was impossible for the 
Emperor to ignore the symptoms of anarchy that be- 
gan to appear. Before the end of November, revolts 
occurred in the northern Captaincies-General. These 
the Emperor, with the aid of the national troops, was 
able to quell promptly, but without quieting the 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 95 

spirit of discontent which was daily manifesting itself 
and increasing in and about the capital. 

In December, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna 
headed a formidable uprising in the vicinity of Jalapa 
and Vera Cruz. Santa Anna was a young officer who 
had previously supported Iturbide, but having been 
haughtily dismissed by the Emperor from the govern- 
ment of Vera Cruz he now turned against the Empire. 
He boldly proclaimed the Republic, pointing out in 
his manifesto that the Emperor had violated his coro- 
nation oath by dissolving Congress. He promised 
that the soldiers under him would aid Congress to 
reassemble and would protect it during its sessions, 
F^lix Fernandez (who now assumed the names of 
Guadalupe Victoria, the former in allusion to the 
patroness of Mexico, the latter implying the fortune 
that had attended many of his encounters with his 
enemies) joined him in the east, and took the leader- 
ship of the movement which was readily acceded to 
him by Santa Anna, with the hope that the name and 
reputation of this great Revolutionary leader would 
inspire the confidence of those who favored the 
Republican form of government. 

Guerrero and Bravo followed the example of Santa 
Anna and Guadalupe Victoria, and led a revolt in the 
north. Notwithstanding a counter-pronunciamento 
by Manuel Pedraza, the Military Commander of 
Huasteca, the Emperor was unable to suppress these 
formidable insurrections. Disaffection was fostered 
among the chiefs of the Imperial army, and the " Plan 
Casa Mata " was promulgated, in February, 1823. 
The leading features of this Plan were the calling 
of a new national representative Congress and the 
guarantee of a Republican form of government. It 



96 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

was fortunate in securing tlie adherence of all the 
national troops in the Captaincies-General. 

The opposition to the Emperor was gaining ground 
daily, and he became fully aware that his popularity 
was subsiding and that he was being regarded as the 
enemy of the people and of the national life. The 
feeling against him was aggravated by his natural in- 
capacity for government, by the character of the min- 
isters whom he had chosen, — men who were not in 
sympathy with a popular form of government, — and 
by the arrogance of his . military adherents. He tried 
to placate his opponents by releasing the Congressional 
deputies whom he had imprisoned, and by recalling 
and reinstating the Congress he had dissolved. But 
his conciliatory action came too late, and proved in- 
effectual. The only apparent course open to him was 
to abdicate ; and this he prepared to do. He had 
partisan supporters sufficient to have won at least a 
temporary victory over his opponents had he sought 
an appeal to arms, and no imputation rests upon the 
personal courage of Iturbide. But, to his credit be 
it said, he preferred to abdicate, and not to involve the 
country in civil war. 

His abdication bore date the twentieth of March, 
1823 ; but it was not made effective without some 
difficulty and delay. It was impossible at once to 
obtain a quorum of Congress to act upon it, and the 
question arose as to the competency of Congress and 
the capacity in which it could treat with Iturbide. 
All technicalities were finally waived, and a treaty 
was agreed upon by which Iturbide recognized the 
Congress which he had previously dissolved, as being 
legally convened and free to act. The command of 
the army was given to Manuel Gomez Pedraza. The 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 97 

abdication of the Emperor was accepted, and Iturbide 
was permitted to retire from the capital. Thus the 
Empire came to an end. Mexico's first attempt to 
form an independent government had proved a failure. 

The wars for ^iexican Independence had been wars 
of escape from oppressive rulers. They had settled 
no principle, nor had they established any system of 
government. Now that the old order of things was 
entirely done away, and the question arose as to what 
the form of government should be in the future, 
there was neither precedent nor experience to guide. 
Monarchy had proved a failure, — or, at least, the 
Republican partisans were for the time being in the 
ascendancy ; and with the rest of the world open to 
their view, the people resolved to adopt the form of 
government which they beheld bearing apparently 
desirable fruits in the United States. 
r**^ngress met in March, with twenty-nine deputies 
present. By way of a provisional government, a Poder 
Mjecutivo was created. This was a triumvirate, com- 
posed of Negrete, Bravo, and Guadalupe Victoria, — 
representatives respectively of the Old Spanish, the 
Monarchical, and the Republican elements in the some- 
what chaotic politics of the country. This arrange- 
ment would seem to indicate a spirit of fairness, but 
practically it was found to be most inconvenient and 
unwise. The three members were to alternate monthly 
in the control of affairs. It was an unhappy circum- 
stance that the three alternating rulers should have 
been military men, for it has since been found difficult 
to rescue Mexico from the hands of military oligarchies, l 

The three chosen rulers were all absent fronrtKe/ 
capital at the time (which may have been the reason 
for their selection), and alternates or substitutes were 

7 



98 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

appointed. These were Mariano Michelena, Miguel 
Dominguez, and Guerrero. It was the only promi- 
nence in political affairs to which Michelena and 
Dominguez ever attained, and they served as scarcely 
more than figure-heads in the provisional government. 
Of the Cabinet which was formed, Lucas Alaman, 
Minister of Foreign and Domestic Relations and vir- 
tual Premier, was probably one of the best and the 
most statesmanlike of the Mexicans of his time. He 
was a political economist and a famous historian of 
his country. He had been a deputy from New Spain 
to the General Cortes which sat in Cadiz in 1820. 
He was committed to decidedly monarchical opinions, 
which marked him out for the ill-will of the Republi- 
can partisans; and though he subsequently attained 
to a post in the cabinet, after the establishment of the 
Republic, he was never a popular candidate for the 
chief magistracy. Nevertheless, his influence in shap- 
ing the form of government was quite marked at this 
time ; for he was almost the only one in Mexico who 
had a knowledge of the science of government. 

When General Bravo returned to the capital and 
took charge of the government, the Poder Ejecutivo 
took up the matter of the final disposition of the 
abdicated Emperor. A liberal pension was granted 
to him in recognition of his services as the Liberator 
of Mexico ; but the condition attached to it was that 
he was to reside in Italy. Thither he went with his 
family, departing from Vera Cruz in an English 
vessel, in May, 1823. On leaving the country, he 
addressed a letter to Congress explaining his conduct 
and expressing his desire that the Mexicans might be 
happy under the new order of things. 

The fate of this ambitious man, whose previous 



TEE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 99 

career had been so brilliant, was exceedingly sad, but 
quite characteristic of this i^eriod of Mexican history. 
There was still left in Mexico a party favorable to the 
maintenance of a monarchy. There were also many 
who were warmly attached to the ex-Emperor per- 
sonally ; for with all his ambition and vanity he seems 
to have been a man of great attractiveness. Natu- 
rally the sympathy of these friends was strengthened 
by his misfortunes and exile. Iturbide was in cor- 
respondence with them, and received frequent reports 
from them of the state of affairs at home. These 
reports were flattering to his vanity, and misleading 
as to the political conditions of his country. 

The government immediately succeeding the Em- 
pire was, as the result of the widely divergent politi- 
cal views held by the members of the Poder JEjecutivo, 
far from satisfactory ; and, taking advantage of this, 
an insurrection in favor of Iturbide was incited. 
These and other matters were brought to the ex- 
Emperor's attention in his exile, and, miscalcula-ting 
their significance and probable results, and without 
being informed that the insurrection in his favor had 
been promptly suppressed and its leaders cast into 
prison, Iturbide left Italy and took up his residence in 
London. There he began to plan a return to Mexico, 
where he hoped to regain his former popularity and 
be restored to the head of the government, if not as 
Emperor at least as Dictator, or perhaps as President 
of the Republic. 

In view of this contingency, Congress formally 
declared him a traitor and condemned him to death 
should he ever return to the country whence he had 
been banished. In ignorance of this Congressional 
action, Iturbide sailed from Southampton in May, 

Lore. 



100 FEOM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

1824, and arrived in Soto de la Marina, near Tampico, 
in July. He was by the military commandant at that 
place treacherously invited to land ; and upon accept- 
ing the invitation, he was escorted to Padilla, some 
miles inland, and was there notified of the purport of 
the declaration of Congress and informed that he had 
but a few hours to live. Five days later (the nine- 
teenth of July) he was executed at Padilla. He met 
death like a hero ; for, though a weak sovereign, he 
was a brave soldier. With his last words he exhorted 
the Mexicans to observe the religion, maintain the 
peace, and obey the laws of their country. His body 
was first buried in the church at Padilla, — for death 
for a political offence was then no bar to Christian 
burial or to mortuary honors. With characteristic 
inconsistency, the Provincial Assembly that, without 
a particle of legal support for their action, had ordered 
his execution, followed him to the grave and mourned 
him as a public benefactor. The news of his untimely 
end, which had evidently not been contemplated by 
the national authorities, was received at the capital a 
week later, and caused a profound sensation. The 
government and the pubhc press expressed deep 
regret at the means that had been employed to crush 
out the Monarchical party. Immediate steps were 
taken to provide for the family of the late Emperor, 
and the pension then granted was scrupulously paid 
to the family as long as one of them survived. 

In 1836 the body of Iturbide was removed to the 
Cathedral in the City of Mexico, and placed in the 
Chapel of San Felipe de Jesus, where it still rests. 
In the inscription upon the sarcophagus, Iturbide is 
called " The Liberator." It is the title by which his 
country is willing to remember the services he ren- 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 101 

dered the cause of Independence, and by which he is 
enrolled among the national heroes of Mexico. 

Upon the abdication of Iturbide, Congress declared 
that his administration of the government during the 
continuance of the short-lived Empire had been a rule 
of force and not of right; that his government was 
unworthy of recognition, and that the nation was free 
to constitute itself at its pleasure, maintaining of its 
free will the three guarantees of Religion, Independ- 
ence, and Union. The "Plan de Iguala" and the 
Treaty of Cordoba were repudiated as inconsistent 
in their expressed principles of government. The 
Captaincies-General were abolished, and Command- 
ancies were estabhshed in the Provinces. Political 
prisoners were set at liberty, payment of the paper 
money issued by the Jiuita was suspended, and the 
exportation of precious metals was permitted. The 
Supreme Tribunal and the Council of State, which 
the Emperor had instituted, were dissolved, and all 
the monarchical machinery of the State was undone. 

The national treasury was practically empty v/hen 
the provisional government was installed. Funds 
were raised by the sale of tobacco in the government 
warehouses, and by the disposal of the temporalities 
of the evicted Jesuits and the property of the Hospi- 
tallers and of the Inquisition ; a loan of sixteen 
million dollars was negotiated at London, and the 
first page of the history of the "English Debt" was 
opened. The national flag was adopted, in the form 
in which it still remains, as the flag of the Republic 
of Mexico. The bars of green, white, and red, in the 
flag of the " Three Guarantees," had been horizontal ; 
they were now changed to upright, with the green 
bar next to the staff. The national coat-of-arms 



102 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

then adopted, embraced the ever-famous eagle upon a 
nopal, strangling a serpent, — referring to the legend- 
ary establishment of the Aztecs on the site of the City 
of Mexico. 

The Iturbidistas having been withdrawn from the 
active politics of the country by the exile and death 
of their chief, the Republicans began to be divided 
into factions and parties, and to adopt party cries 
which disturbed the peace of Mexico for nearly half 
a century. The pubhc press excited the intense 
passions of the people in those cities which had 
always been revolutionary centres. Negrete, Bravo, 
and others, declared themselves " Centralists," and 
as their party comprised the remnants of the old 
Monarchists' party, the name of " Borbonistas " was 
given to them in derision. They maintained a 
paper, M Sol, advocating a centralized form of 
government. 

Victoria and Guerrero proclaimed themselves leaders 
of the " Federalists." Some of the former partisans 
of Iturbide chose to charge his overthrow upon the 
Centralists, and attached themselves, out of revenge, 
to the Federalist party, and took a prominent place 
therein, despite the fact that the Federalists advo- 
cated the maintenance of a Federal Constitution, the 
adoption of a distinctly Federal system of govern- 
ment, and the reduction of the privileges of the aris- 
tocracy and clergy. Their organ was the ArcMvista, 
afterwards ^l Aguila Mexicana. It was edited by 
Navarete, who had been Iturbide's Government 
Attorney. 

A Congress, installed in November, 1823, discussed 
the adoption of a fundamental law for the country. 
The Federalists were largely in the majority. Among 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 103 

their deputies was Valentin Gomez Farias, repre- 
senting the State of Coahuila, — an influential man, 
destined to still greater prominence in public affairs. 
Among the Centralist leaders were Carlos Maria 
Bustamante the historian, and Manuel de Mier y 
Teran, who was a deputy from Nuevo Le6n. The 
article of the proposed Constitution furnishing the 
principal subject for debate was one declaring that 
" The nation adopts the Repubhcan, Federal, Popular, 
Representative form of Government." Dr. Mier y 
Teran (opposing the adoption of this provision) 
showed how different were the circumstances of 
Mexico from those of the United States, which the 
Federalists were attempting to copy. The United 
States had been separate provinces which had feder- 
ated to resist the oppression of England. They first 
suppressed the King's name from their separate State 
constitutions ; and the States thus estabhshed were 
fitted to become afterwards the components of the 
Republic. But Mexico was in no such category ; and 
the difference between the two cases, in the opinion 
of Dr. Mier y Teran, was radical. Mexico had suf- 
fered as a whole the yoke of an absolute monarch 
during three centuries, and neither the whole nor any 
part had any experience whatever in the Avorkings of 
Republican institutions. He might well have called 
attention also to the racial differences between the 
Mexican amalgamation of Latin and Indian peoples 
and the Anglo-Saxons who had estabhshed the Repub- 
lic of the United States. 

Among the newly enfranchised citizens of Mexico, 
there were few who had any knowledge or experience 
in the functions of civil office or had made a profound 
study of the different systems of government. And 



104 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

whether rightly or wrongly, the advice and influence 
of the American Minister to Mexico were sought 
and freely exercised, to the final triumph of the 
Federalist principles over the opposition of the 
Centralists. 

Thirty-six articles were adopted, in January, 1824, 
to serve as the basis of a future Constitution. This 
tentative or provisional Constitution defined the 
government to be Popular, Representative, Federal, 
and Republican. Later in the year the Acta Oonsti- 
tutiva, or definitive Constitution (copied in most 
particulars from that of the United States), was sub- 
mitted to the people. It proclaimed the national 
sovereignty, the independence of the States, the 
organization of the supreme power, the independence 
of the judicial powers, and guaranteed to the clergy 
and military their already vested rights or fueros, and 
to the nation the same religious intolerance which had 
characterized the " Plan de Iguala." 

The Republic thus constituted comprised nineteen 
States and five Territories. Each State had its 
governor and legislature, and a tribunal of justice, 
with its own proper officers, and was vested with 
power to dispose of its own revenues. The rights 
given to the several States marked the chief char- 
acteristic of this Constitution as being the product 
of Federalist influence. The States were to organize 
their governments in conformity to the Federal act, 
and each State was to protect its citizens in the full 
enjoyment of their liberties. 

The general powers of the National government 
resided in Mexico, or the Federal District ; and these 
powers comprised a General Congress, a Supreme 
Court of Judicature or Justice, and a President of 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 105 

the Republic with four Ministers. The Legislative 
power was vested in a Congress comprising a Senate 
and House of Representatives. The Senate was to 
be composed of two Senators from each State, elected 
by the Legislature for the term of four years. The 
House of Representatives was to be composed of 
deputies elected by the direct vote of the citizens for 
a term of two years. The Supreme Executive author- 
ity was to be vested in one individual, who was to be 
styled " The President of the United Mexican States." 
He was required to be Mexican born, thirty-five years 
of age, and was to be elected by the legislatures of 
the several States for the term of four years. The 
Supreme Court was to be composed of eleven judges, 
elected by the legislatures of the several States. 

The third article of the Constitution read as follows : 
"The Religion of the Mexican Nation is and will 
perpetually be the Roman Cathohc Apostolic. The 
nation will protect it by wise and just laws, and 
prohibit the exercise of any other whatever." Tliis 
was one of the inheritances which the Constitution 
received from the *' Plan de Iguala." 

Some of the provisions of the Constitution might 
be considered chimerical and Utopian ; as, for example, 
no individual was to begin a suit at law until after 
having tried to settle the case by arbitration. And 
the defect might be pointed out that trial by jury was 
not provided for, nor was proper publicity given to 
the processes of the courts in which justice was to 
be administered. These details show that the Latin 
rather than the Anglo-Saxon influence was predom- 
inant in the formation of this organic law. 

The Constitution was proclaimed on the fourth of 
October, and was received with great enthusiasm. 



106 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

Under the Constitution, the Republic of Mexico pro- 
ceeded to organize its government by the election to 
the Presidency of Guadalupe Victoria, the Federahst 
candidate for that office, by a majority of the votes 
cast. General Nicolas Bravo, the candidate of the 
Centralists, receiving the next highest number of 
votes, was chosen Vice-President. Upon their in- 
stallation into their respective offices, on the tenth of 
October, 1824, the Poder Ejecutivo passed out of ex- 
istence, and Mexico began a career as a Constitutional 
Republic. 

Almost simultaneously with some of the events 
narrated in the foregoing chapters, the Spanish prov- 
inces in South America, by a revolutionary move- 
ment somewhat similar to that of Mexico, threw off 
the yoke of Spain and established their Independence. 
All the Spanish-American countries were therefore 
at this time the subject of the especial attention of 
the European powers and of the United States. Dur- 
ing the imprisonment of Fernando VII. there had 
been no diplomatic relations existing between the 
United States and any of the rival authorities in 
Spain. Joseph Bonaparte attempted to procure the 
recognition of the American Congress in 1809, but 
failed ; and the agent of the Central Junta was never 
recognized by the United States in that capacity. But 
the time had now come for the United States to give 
up the position of strict neutrality. 

The message of President Monroe to the Congress 
of the United States, in December, 1823, contained 
declarations to the following effect: (1) that "The 
American Continents, by the free and independent 
condition which they have assumed and maintained, 



THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 107 

are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for 
future colonization by any foreign power " ; (2) that 
any attempt on the part of European powers to ex- 
tend their political systems to any portion of the 
Western Hemisphere would be considered dangerous 
to the peace and safety of the United States; that 
any interposition by such powers for the purpose 
of opposing or controlling the governments which 
have declared their independence and maintained it, 
and whose independence had been acknowledged by 
the United States, could not be viewed in any other 
light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly dispo- 
sition towards the United States; that the poHtical 
system of European powers could not be extended to 
any portion of either of the American continents 
without endangering the peace and happiness of the 
United States, nor would such extension be regarded 
with indifference. 

This is, in substance, the famous "Monroe Doc- 
trine " to which appeal is made whenever a conflict 
between European and American interests on the 
American continent is threatened. It is interesting 
to note, in passing, that the " Doctrine " had its rise in 
the events herein briefly 'narrated. The United States 
government, having recognized the independence of 
Mexico, was resolved to use its influence to secure a 
like recognition from the governments of Europe. 

There seems to have been at no time in the United 
States a perfect understanding of the political con- 
dition of Mexico. Iturbide had sent an envoy to the 
government at Washington, but he was not received, 
nor was Mexico recognized as a nation until after the 
fall of the Empire. But the United States could 
be relied upon to sympathize with a country which 



108 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

had, by whatever means, gained its independence of a 
European power, — and without examining too closely 
into the character of the government established 
there. The government at Washington was no less 
ready to recognize the Mexican Republic when estab- 
lished than it had been to recognize the vague and 
uncertain government which had immediately suc- 
ceeded the Mexican Empire and was in vogue at the 
time that Mexican Independence was acknowledged. 

The declaration contained in President Monroe's 
message was especially gratifying to England, whose 
Minister of Foreign Affairs had long been urging 
upon the United States the necessity of promulgating 
some such statement. Information of its promulga- 
tion, when it was received in Europe, was doubtless 
effectual in preventing Spain from making further 
serious attempts to reclaim her provinces in America, 
although she withheld the recognition of the Republic 
of Mexico until the latter part of 1836. 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 109 



CHAPTER VI 
SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 

THE administration of Guadalupe Victoria, 
the first President of the United Mexican 
States, began under exceedingly happy aus- 
pices, was wise and beneficent in its intentions, and 
proved generally popular. It was permitted to last 
out the full constitutional period of four years, and 
the country was prosperous to a greater degree than 
it ever was before, or ever has been since until very 
recent years. The new Republic had apparently been 
established in peace. Partisan feeling was as yet but 
partially developed; and there was, for the time 
being, no one to question the authority of the Presi- 
dent under the Constitution just adopted. The treas- 
ury was replete with funds from the loan negotiated 
with England and from the development of the na- 
tional resources, and everything promised a happy 
career for the new nation. 

In 1825 the President signalized the anniversary of 
Hidalgo's Grito by the liberation, in the name of the 
country, of certain slaves purchased by the govern- 
ment with a fund raised for that purpose; and of 
other slaves given up by their owners with the same 
object in view. Thus African slavery was reduced 
to narrow limits in Mexico ; the slaves remaining in 
the country were in domestic service, and were gen- 
erally treated more like members of the families they 
served than as actual chattels. 



110 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

For two years the country succeeded in avoiding 
those political disturbances which were destined to 
break out sooner or later among a people trained, 
as the Mexicans had been, under Spanish rule. The 
Administration and Congress were chiefly of the 
Federalist party, and through the exertions of that 
party a law was passed in 1826 abolishing all titles 
of nobility and restricting parents with regard to the 
distribution of property among their children, thus 
striking a blow at the Spanish institution of mayo- 
rasgo, or primogeniture. In 1827 the natural effects 
of the Spanish domination upon the popular character 
asserted themselves. An insurrection broke out, 
which was a manifestation of the " Old Spanish " 
feeling. It was headed by two Franciscan friars, who 
vainly expected to restore the Spanish rule, and who 
paid for their temerity with their lives. The incident 
excited a strong anti-Spanish feeling ; and in March, 
1828, the Federalists, who had always been more or 
less opposed to allowing the Spaniards to remain in 
the country, secured a decree for their expulsion. 

Shortly afterwards another characteristic insurrec- 
tion occurred. It was headed by an obscure army 
officer, who " pronounced " in Otumba, and put forth 
a *' plan " for a new constitution, and a demand for 
the dismissal cff the Ministers of Victoria's cabinet 
because of their alleged lack of virtue and capacity; 
for the expulsion of the American Minister, Mr. 
Poinsett; and for the extinction of Freemasonry. 
The feeling against Mr. Poinsett was due to the 
active and prominent part he had taken in the institu- 
tion of the York Lodges of Freemasons in Mexico 

Freemasonry had been introduced into Mexico 
in 1820, at the time of the restoration of the Consti- 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 111 

tution of 1812 in Spain. It was derived from the 
Scotch branch of the order, and was called Escoces. 
Many of the " Old Spaniards," the Creole aristocracy, 
and the privileged classes — the Serviles of the later 
days of Spanish rule in Mexico and the "Borbon- 
istas " of the early days of Mexican Independence — 
were initiated into its mysteries. In 1822 Mr. Poin- 
sett came to Mexico as Envoy from the United 
States. He brought with him a charter for a Grand 
Lodge of York Masons, and some of the leaders 
of the Republican party were initiated into its 
rites. The names of the two rival lodges became 
the rallying-cries of the contesting political par- 
ties. The " Escoceses," consistent with their Servile 
Borbonist traditions, became Centralists; while the 
" Yorkinos " were identified with the Federalist party. 
The "Yorkinos," against whom the "Plan" of 1828 
was launched, protested that the movement was in- 
tended " to prevent the banishment of the Spaniards? 
to destroy Republican institutions, and to place the 
country under the yoke of the Borbons." 

It was, in fact, time for the two rival branches 
of Freemasonry to try conclusions ; for by the end of 
the year 1826 the " Yorkinos " had a majority in Con- 
gress and in the State legislatures. They composed 
the party of advanced liberal ideas, and hence the 
popular party. The " Escoceses " were losing ground 
in the popular favor, were envious of their more 
prosperous rivals, and were determined to save 
themselves and ruin the "Yorkinos," if possible, by 
pronouncing against all secret societies. It was one 
of the earliest of the numerous petty quarrels which 
are dignified by the title of " Revolutions " in Mexi- 
can history. 



112 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The scene was characteristic of Mexico, and of 
human nature as exemplified among the Mexicans. 
General Bravo, the Vice-President of the Republic, 
was a leader of the " Escoceses," having been the 
Centralist candidate for the Presidency. He issued 
a bombastic proclamation, denouncing the President 
as being connected with the " Yorkinos," and declar- 
ing that as a last resort he appealed to arms to rid 
the Republic of the " pest " of secret societies ; and 
that he proposed never to give up the contest until 
he had exterminated them root and branch. Pre- 
viously, he had been an advocate of law and order. 
He now made common cause with the insurrection 
already in progress, and took up a position with some 
troops at Tulancingo, thirty miles north of the city 
of Mexico. Such a challenge as he gave is usually 
accepted in Mexico. 

By the action of his Vice-President, Victoria was 
compelled openly to declare his affiliation with the 
" Yorkinos," and to seek their aid. He appointed 
Guerrero chief of the government forces, and sent him 
out to attack Bravo. An engagement occurred in 
January, 1828, in which Guerrero's forces killed eight 
of the insurgents, wounded six, and took Bravo and 
his party prisoners. Bravo and some of his followers 
were exiled by Congress, but were subsequently al- 
lowed to return to their homes. Thus perished the 
" Escoceses " as a political power. Both candidates 
for the Presidency at the next election were " York- 
inos," which caused dissensions in their own ranks ; 
and the " Yorkinos," as a political party distinct from 
the Federalists, did not long survive their triumph 
over the *' Escoceses." 

In that election the Federalists began to call them- 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 113 

selves High Liberals, or Radicals. Their candidate 
for the Presidency was the old Revolutionary hero, 
General Vicente Guerrero. Mr. Poinsett, the Ameri- 
can Minister (who seems to have taken more than a 
proper amount of interest in the politics of Mexico), 
threw the weight of his influence into the scale with 
Guerrero. The Centralists, combined with the Con- 
servatives and Moderates, put forward as their candi- 
date General Manuel Gomez Pedraza, a former friend 
of Iturbide, and the Minister of War under Victoria. 
He was a man of strong character, though somewhat 
arbitrary, and for this reason unpopular in the army. 
Nevertheless, under the influence of the Victoria ad- 
ministration, and by the aid of the " Old Spanish " 
element, he received a small majority of the votes in 
the State legislatures. 

The disappointed Liberals appealed to Congress to 
reverse the decision of the legislatures. They suc- 
ceeded in getting a majority of the deputies of the 
lower House to vote for the reversal, but in the Senate 
the majority voted to sustain the election of the 
legislatures. The partisans of Guerrero thereupon 
established what proved a dangerous precedent, and 
appealed to that always potent factor in Mexican 
politics — arms. The Governor of the State of Mex- 
ico, and other pronounced Liberals, espoused the 
cause of Guerrero, in a pronunciamento issued in 
November, and carried the war directly to the Na- 
tional Palace. For thirty days the capital was the 
scene of insurrection. The Liberal leaders, following 
precedents established by both sides in the wars for 
Independence, executed several of the prisoners taken. 

The whole course of Mexican history was now 
changed. General Santa Anna, who had been a 



114 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

leader in the movement for the overthrow of the Em- 
pire of Iturbide and the establishment of the Repub- 
lic, again came into prominence. He claimed that 
the election had not shown the real will of the people, 
and sought to give it opportunity for more genuine 
expression by taking possession of the Castle of 
Perote, a strongly fortified position on the eastern 
slope of the Sierras, commanding the road from the 
capital to Vera Cruz. He published an address declar- 
ing that he had taken it upon himself, by proclaiming 
Guerrero President, to correct the fraud by which 
Pedraza's election had been procured, and to main- 
tain the character and assert the dignity of the Mexi- 
can Nation. 

A few days later. President Victoria issued a procla- 
mation declaring Santa Anna's acts treasonable and 
calling upon the States and the citizens of the Repub- 
lic to aid in arresting Santa Anna and his followers. 
The doughty General was besieged in Perote, and a 
battle was fought there. Santa Anna escaped, but 
was pursued and captured. But with that fickleness 
which has ever been a trait in the Mexican political 
character, public sentiment suddenly veered around, 
and the command of the army that had captured him 
was given to Santa Anna. 

Anarchy prevailed in the capital, and was attended 
by the destruction of much property there and in all 
the large cities of the country. The Constitution was 
tossed aside. Pedraza escaped by flight, first sending 
in his resignation to Congress. It was amidst confu- 
sion such as this that the administration of Guadalupe 
Victoria came to an end ; and it was to be many years 
before Mexico was to see another President fulfil his 
constitutional term of four years. 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 115 

In January, 1829, Congress, acting not as a repre- 
sentative body and within the restrictions imposed 
upon it b}^ the Constitution, but as the instrument of 
a political faction, undertook to adjust the Presi- 
dential question. The partisans of Guerrero held the 
City of Mexico. They changed their former war- 
cry for the expulsion of the Spaniards to " Long live 
Guerrero," and they proclaimed him President by a 
pronunciamento. Congress was almost wholly under 
their influence, and promptly declared the election of 
Pedraza null and void, and elected Guerrero in his 
place, ^vith General Anastasio Bustamante as Vice- 
President. 

Bustamante had formerly been a pronounced "Itur- 
bidista " ; but after the fall of his chief, he had allied 
himself with the Federalists. Though now a " York- 
ino," he v/as virtually a Centralist. He was a native 
of Mexico, had been the family physician of Fdlix 
Maria Calleja del Rey when the latter was Military 
Commander of San Luis Potosi, and when the emeute 
of Iturrigaray occurred, in 1808, he had received a 
commission in a regiment of mihtia composed of the 
sons of wealthy Creoles. He served with distinction 
in all of the campaigns of Calleja against the Revolu- 
tionists until 1819, and rose to the rank of Colonel. 
He declared for the Plan de Iguala when that was 
proclaimed, and gained the confidence of Iturbide, 
who made him Commander-in-chief of Cavalry and 
a member of the Provisional Junta. He was Field- 
Marshal under the Regency, and " Captain-General of 
the Eastern and Western Provinces of the Interior " 
under the Empire. After the overthrow of the Em- 
pu'e, he was among those who held the Monarchists 
responsible for Iturbide's misfortunes, and so allied 



116 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

himself with the Federalist party. He was appointed 
Military Governor of a Province by President Vic- 
toria, with the highest rank in the Mexican army — 
that of General of a Division. 

Such was the man of rather doubtful political prin- 
ciples, but of undoubted intellectual ability, who was 
now linked with Guerrero, the stanch Federalist 
and Republican, in the Government of Mexico. Guer- 
rero took possession of the Presidential office on the 
first of April, 1829. He favored the " Yorkinos " in 
making up his cabinet, though his appointees were 
of rather dubious politics. Lucas Alaman, the theo- 
retical Monarchist, was made his Premier ; and Santa 
Anna, the future Centralist and Absolutist, was made 
his Minister of War. 

This strange Cabinet was intended to be conciliatory, 
and a compromise with the various political factions ; 
but it failed to restore order to the Republic. Yet 
despite the continuance of the chaotic state in which 
the new administration found affairs, and the dis- 
organization which fettered every branch of the gov- 
ernment in the latter part of 1829, Guerrero was able 
to place himself on record as a reformer and as a 
friend of human liberty. He decreed several impor- 
tant progressive measures, one of which was the total 
abolishment of slavery. The decree was signed on 
the fifteenth of September, and proclaimed the next 
day, being the anniversary of Hidalgo's G-rito. That 
the law met with opposition in Coahuila and Texas, 
and was never fully enforced, does not detract from 
the honor due to Guerrero and his administration for 
furthering such a cause. 

The President and his Vice-President, however, 
were not in full political accord, and it was not long 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 117 

before an opportunity came for the latter to exhibit 
his opposition and jealousy. In July, Spanish troops 
from Cuba landed in Tampico, ostensibly to retaliate 
upon Mexico for banishing the Spaniards from the 
country, but really to make an effort to regain the 
lost Spanish provinces. Guerrero was invested by 
Congress with dictatorial powers, and instituted a 
vigorous and successful campaign against the invad- 
ers. He proved, however, disinclined to relinquish 
the dictatorial powers that had been conferred upon 
him for meeting an especial emergency, even after the 
emergency had been successfully met. Bustamante, 
his Vice-President, thus found an opportunity to 
charge him with a desire to exercise arbitrary and 
unconstitutional powers. 

Santa Anna's opposition to Bustamante was mild at 
the first, and he did not allow his relations with the 
administration of Guerrero to interfere, with his early 
desertion to Bustamante ; and his '' Plan de Jalapa " 
brought about a very interesting situation. Busta- 
mante was in command of troops at Jalapa, held 
in reserve in the campaign that had just closed. By 
the " Plan de Jalapa," which Santa Anna put forth, 
these troops virtually rebelled against the govermnent 
of Guerrero. Leaving Jos^ Maria Bocanegra in the 
capital as Acting President by the provision of Con- 
gress, Guerrero set out to quell the disturbance in 
Jalapa. Thereupon Bocanegra, taking possession in 
December, 1829, usurped the full powers of the Presi- 
dency, and Guerrero was forced to abandon the office 
to be a bone of contention between Bocanegra and 
Bustamante. 

Bocanegra was President for only five daj^s. He 
was ousted by a pronunciamento headed by General 



118 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

Luis Quintanar. Pending the full establishment of 
the government of Bustamante, the President of the 
Supreme Court of Justice, Pedro Velez (whose con- 
stitutional right to succeed to the Presidency in case 
of a vacancy in that office appears to have been over- 
looked until then) took charge of the Presidential 
office, and associated with him two persons designated 
by the Cabinet or Government Council. They were 
General Quintanar, the author of the pronunciamento, 
and Lucas Alaman. 

Thus was Mexico over-supplied with rulers, and the 
question of the constitutional status of the several 
claimants to the chief magistracy was one that was 
well-nigh impossible to decide. Congress found it a 
puzzling question, when it tried to settle it. It had 
no power to declare the election of Guerrero illegal, 
for that would be to render a like judgment in the case 
of his Vice-President, who was in the same category 
with him. So it was declared, as the only way out 
of the difficulty, that Guerrero was " morally in- 
capacitated." He was formally deposed upon those 
grounds, and Anastasio Bustamante was elevated to 
the Presidency. 

Bustamante took up the reins of government on the 
first of January, 1830, and a brief season of quiet en- 
sued. He retained Alaman as his Minister of Foreign 
and Domestic Relations, — practically the Premier- 
ship of the Cabinet. The administration was sup- 
ported by the military, the clergy, and the wealthy 
Creoles, for whose advantage it existed. It should, 
however, be said, that Alaman, the able Minister of 
Foreign and Domestic Relations, set out upon the 
discharge of his duties with the determination to re- 
form some of the branches of the government, and 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 119 

unquestionably began a new era of public order and 
morality in 1830 and 1831. This was, unfortunately, 
but temporary ; and things went back to their former 
condition after Alaman left office. 

Guerrero, upon abandoning the Presidency, retired 
to private life upon his hacienda among the mountains 
of the south. There were some peo^jle who, recaUing 
the part he had taken in the struggle for Independ- 
ence, resented the outrage that they felt had been 
perpetrated upon him. There were demonstrations 
in his favor, sufficiently open to alarm the adminis- 
tration ; and a member of Bustamante's cabinet began 
to plot the downfall of the Revolutionary hero. Par- 
don was offered to six criminals under sentence of 
death, on condition that they would make it their 
duty to assassinate Guerrero. Learning of these ef- 
forts upon his life, Guerrero retired still further into 
the mountains. In the spring of 1830, the old Revo- 
lutionary hero ventured from his hiding-place and 
attempted to establish his government in Yalladolid. 
He was driven thence by government troops, to Aca- 
pulco ; and at the latter place he fell into the hands 
of his enemies. Being entertained at a complimentary 
dinner on board a Sardinian ship in the harbor, the 
captain of the ship, who was his host, betrayed him, 
for a bribe, to Bustamante's Secretary of War. He 
was taken to Oaxaca, tried by a court-martial, and in 
February, 1831, was executed. 

Rightly, the name of Vicente Guerrero belongs in 
the list of Mexican heroes and of the martyrs to the 
cause of good government in that much misgoverned 
land. He was of low birth and humble parentage, 
belonging to that mixed caste which under Spanish 
rule had no political or social rights whatever. It 



120 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

had been a matter of deep personal interest to him, 
therefore, to fight in the wars for Independence ; and, 
as we have seen, so great was the rank to which he 
attained, and so briUiant his success in those wars, 
that it was necessary for Iturbide's plans to secure his 
allegiance and cooperation. 

Yet he was ignored by Iturbide, under the Regency 
and in the Empire. He was one of the men to whom 
was intrusted, tentatively, the charge of the govern- 
ment after the fall of Iturbide. He maintained his 
former rank in the army of the Republic. Generally 
he acquitted himself with credit in whatever station 
he was placed. He was bold, honest, and frank; 
but he was not intellectually strong, and was much 
better qualified for war than politics. The charges 
upon which he was deposed from the Presidency 
were notoriously unjust. His unconstitutional strug- 
gle for the Presidential office was certainly not credifr 
able, and was fraught with deplorable consequences to 
the nation — retarding its progress toward enlighten- 
ment and self-government. His career shows him to 
have been an apt scholar in the school of Spanish 
politics, and marked him as one of the restless, am- 
bitious class, so prominent in the history of Mexico. 
During his brief term of political office, Guerrero 
exhibited liberal ideas in advance of his times. His 
humble origin made him hated by the Spaniards and 
the aristocratic Creoles ; while the clergy hated him 
for his pronounced Republicanism. He was there- 
fore, from the beginning of his public career, doomed 
to failure. The treacherous manner of his death, re- 
minding us of that of Iturbide, with whose life his own 
had been so fatefuUy linked, disposes us to regard his 
faults with leniency and his virtues with respect. 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 121 

The tranquillity purchased by the death of Guerrero 
did not last long. In January, 1832, Santa Anna pre- 
tended dissatisfaction with the arbitrary measures of 
Bustamante, whom he had formerly supported, and 
demanded that the cabinet be reorganized. He led a 
revolt in Vera Cruz, declaring himself in favor of the 
restoration of the Constitution and the enforcement 
of the laws passed in accordance therewith. Such a 
proclamation naturally drew to his standard the ad- 
herents of the Federal system of government, and 
Bustamante in person took the field in command of 
the army which was supposed to be intent upon crush- 
ing out this new menace to his administration. Con- 
gress, meanwhile, appointed General Melchor Musquiz 
Acting President. He occupied the Presidential chair 
from the fourteenth of August until Christmas Eve, 
while Bustamante was maintaining his struggle with 
the insurgents in Vera Cruz. 

The conflict between Bustamante and Santa Anna 
resulted in the defeat of the former near Puebla, and 
the " Capitulation of Zavaleta " was signed on the 
twenty- third of September. By this document, Busta- 
mante agreed to resign the Presidency in favor of 
General Manuel Gomez Pedraza, in whose interests 
Santa Anna claimed to have been fighting. The lat- 
ter's advocacy of Pedraza was based upon the elec- 
tion of 1828, notwithstanding the fact that Santa 
Anna had himseK been the cause of the overthrow of 
that election, and of the exile of Pedraza, whom he 
now declared entitled to the Presidential ofhce. It 
was not by any means the first manifestation of incon- 
sistency in the political character of Santa Anna; 
nor was it to be the last. 

General Pedraza was a man of elevated ideas, 



122 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

severe morals, and ardent patriotism, — considering 
the times, the country, and the circimistances in 
which he lived. He was distinguished for wise and 
intelligent measures in his former positions in the 
government, although his arbitrary management of 
the War portfolio in the cabinet of Victoria had been 
an offence to the military class whose favor it was 
generally deemed necessary to court. His present 
support was expected to be derived from the Con- 
servatives, who were apparently in the ascendant. 
He was already in the country, ready to take charge 
of the national government in Puebla, on the twenty- 
fourth of September, the day after the signing of 
the Capitulation of Zavaleta. In his inaugural ad- 
dress he reviewed the events of the preceding years, 
eulogized Santa Anna, — who, though once his foe, 
was now his friend and supporter, — and by his 
references to him as his predestined successor he dis- 
closed the purpose of his own brief elevation to the 
power which he had once resigned. This purpose 
was intended ultimately to serve the personal ends of 
Santa Anna, rather than to serve the State and the 
people. 

At the end of three months a new election was 
held. It was the proper time for the third election 
under the Constitution. General Mier y Teran, the 
old Revolutionary leader, was the candidate of the 
Centralists, or Conservatives ; and General Bravo 
(strange to say!) stood for the Liberals whom he had 
previously opposed. Bravo received the votes of a 
majority of the States ; and from mortification Mier y 
Teran committed suicide. These " sad circumstances " 
were accepted by Congress (which was Centralist or 
Conservative in its constituency) as a pretext for set- 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 123 

ting aside tlie election by the State legislatures ; and 
this act, though in accord with the Constitutional pro- 
vision, was distasteful to a Centralist Congress. In 
the revision of the election proceedings, Congress 
promptly returned General Antonio L6pez de Santa 
Anna as President, and Valentine Gomez Farias as 
Vice-President. 

There was a wide difference between the characters 
and careers of these two men into whose hands the 
government of Mexico was now committed, as well as 
of the parties they represented and the political ideas 
they respectively advanced. Santa Anna was the son 
of a wealthy Creole who possessed large estates lying 
on the road between Vera Cruz and Jalapa. At a 
very early age he had raised on his estates a body of 
light cavalry, composed of farmers and Indians ; and 
after distinguishing himself with these in guerrilla war- 
fare, and commending himself by his courage and ad- 
dress to the Mexican people, he had become a supporter 
of Iturbide. His wealth, his handsome person, win- 
ning manners, and fine command of language (which 
latter accomplishment seems to have been afterwards 
exercised chiefly in writing manifestos and similar 
documents designed to hoodwink his countrymen and 
deceive them as to his political intentions), all these 
peculiarly fitted him to be a party leader in Mexico. 
And as he was never troubled by any scruples of con- 
science, or by any respect for the truth, he entered 
with all the eagerness of a gambler upon the political 
game being played in his native land, in which the 
highest interests of his country were the stakes. 

From the first, Santa Anna showed himself ready 
to espouse any cause which promised to advance his 
personal interests. He had not long remained faithful 



124 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

to Iturbide; and upon the removal of that political 
schemer from power, Santa Anna had not been more 
obedient to Congress when it assumed direction of 
affairs, or to the constitutional government when that 
was established. His mind was fertile in the device 
of plans and pronunciamentos of the most varied and 
even contradictory character. He was so thoroughly 
acquainted with the disposition of his fellow-country- 
men, and so fertile in resources, that he proved him- 
self the beau-ideal of a guerrilla chieftain. It was in 
vain that apparently superior forces were sent against 
him, whenever he chose to " pronounce " against the 
government. By stratagems, of which he was an ac- 
complished master, he was usually enabled to elude 
them. His influence and popularity were at times 
invincible. 

He was ignorant of the science of government, 
never able to submit himself to any recognized politi- 
cal authority, without fixed principles, arbitrary, rest- 
less, ambitious, adventurous, anxious for power yet 
using power when once obtained for his own ends, 
though it might be for the ruin of his country. After 
his personal interest had been gratified, his next 
thought was always the Church, for which he had a 
superstitious and not altogether disinterested regard. 
The Church was by this time fully identified with 
the Conservative or Centralist party. Although re- 
peatedly able to deceive his fellow-countrymen into 
believing him otherwise, Santa Anna was always 
thorouglily in sympathy with that party. 

Yet Santa Anna was but a type, — a conspicuous 
type indeed, but still a type, — of the politician of 
those days, not only in Mexico but throughout all 
Spanish America; brought up under the political 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 125 

training offered by Spain in her colonial government ; 
depending for success upon the strength of an army 
for the moment under his control, or upon chicane 
and bribery; one to whom no constitution furnished a 
law of restraint. The life of Santa Anna admirably 
illustrates the political condition of Mexico during 
the early years of the Republic. His plots against 
the government began during the First Empire. 
They continued almost to the time of his death, in 
1876, when he had reached the age of eighty. 

Gomez Farias, the Vice-President, was, on the other 
hand, a high Liberal, — honorable, intelligent, and of 
thoroughly democratic ideas. As such, he was a type 
and forerunner of a new era that was dawning upon 
Mexico — a type of the new statesman, of whom other 
examples were soon to come into view. He was a 
patriot as well as a statesman, and with him began 
the active effort to establish liberal ideas and firm 
constitutional rule in Mexico. His name appears in 
the record of every important patriotic movement 
since the Revolution. He was a deputy to the earli- 
est Congresses ; he was a defender of popular liberties, 
and always ready to stand by any one who would take 
a step toward the advancement of popular government. 

This eminent statesman was a native of Guadala- 
jara. He was largely self-taught, but was skilled in 
medicine and science, and at the time of his elevation 
to the Vice-Presidency was in his fifty-second year. 
He had sacrificed a fortune in the cause of Inde- 
pendence, had organized a battalion in the army of 
Hidalgo, and had sat as a deputy in the first Congress 
of the Republic. Under the Constitution of 1824, he 
had organized the State of Zacatecas. He was active 
in promulgating the liberal ideas then beginning to 



126 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

gain a liearing in the land. He was now joined in 
the government to a person of almost directly oppo- 
site character and political aims, because, under the 
exceedingly pernicious constitutional provision, the 
Vice-Presidency was conferred upon the candidate 
for the Presidential office receiving next to the high- 
est number of votes, and he, of course, was of the 
party opposing the successful candidate for the Presi- 
dency. The provision was an apparently fair one, but 
in practice it worked out badly in every case. 

These two men were installed in their respective 
offices on the sixteenth of May, 1832, and alternated 
in ruling the destinies of the nation until January, 
1835, when a revolution occurred which will claim 
our attention in its proper place. It was character- 
istic of Santa Anna that, with all his love of power, 
he disliked the exercise of it in the appointed way, 
and was inclined to relinquish the responsibilities of 
office to a deputy whenever he could find one ; and he 
interfered with his deputy in such a case only when 
the deputy acted independently, and not in accordance 
with his principal's ideas. Santa Anna's idea of gov- 
ernment was to occupy some secluded place where he 
could Avield the supreme power entirely unseen by the 
world, and to possess some willing tool, who remained 
in the plain view of the people, and would bear the 
odium of any unpopular measure, while Santa Anna 
was ready to appear at any time, to take the credit for 
any popular measure, or to check his deputy should 
he transcend his supposed powers. 

In accordance with this plan of governing by 
deputy, Santa Anna, on the first of April, 1833, re- 
tired from the capital to his hacienda of Mango de 
Clava, on the road between Jalapa and Vera Cruz, 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 127 

leaving the government in the hands of Vice-Presi- 
dent Gomez Farias. On the first of June following, 
a shrewd observer of political affairs might have dis- 
covered the object he had in view in thus relinquish- 
ing the exercise of the Presidential functions and 
retiring from the public view. On that day, General 
Dumn pronounced and put forth the "Plan de San 
Agustin," in favor of the Church and Army, and de- 
claring Santa Anna " Supreme Dictator of Mexico." 
There can be but little doubt that Santa Anna had 
instigated this movement, preferring to accomphsh 
his purposes by an indirect and dramatic method 
rather than by openly announcing them while in the 
discharge of the office of Chief Magistrate. 

Santa Anna resumed the Presidency, appointed 
General Mariano Arista his second in military com- 
mand, and went with him to suppress the revolt of 
Duran. They had not proceeded far before Arista 
declared in favor of the " Plan de San Agustin," se- 
cured the person of the President, and proclaimed him 
Dictator. News of this movement was received with 
enthusiasm by the militarj^ in the capital, and the air 
was filled with shouts of " Santa Anna for Dictator." 
The most curious phase of the incident is that it 
should have deceived any one. But the Mexican 
people were always susceptible subjects for Santa 
Anna's duplicity. 

Gomez Farias, however, rallied the Federalists, and 
compelled the President to declare himself more posi- 
tively against the insurgents. Santa Anna thereupon 
pretended to make an escape from his captors, re- 
turned to the capital, and compelled the surrender of 
the insurgents. He pardoned Arista and banished 
Duran. The Mexican people, too readily imposed 



128 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

upon by such theatrical play, hailed him upon his 
return to the capital as the champion of Federalism. 
He left the Presidency again in the hands of Gomez 
Farias, and again retired to Mango de Clava. 

Gomez Farias, thus left to handle the reins of 
government, embraced the opportunity to put in prac- 
tice some of the theories of reform and popular gov- 
ernment which he had long been cogitating. The 
hberal principles he sought to promulgate included, 
(1) the absolute liberty of the press ; (2) the abolish- 
ment of special class privileges, or fueros^ as they were 
called, whereby the clergy and the army gained great 
advantages over the masses of the people ; (3) the 
separation of Church and State, including the sup- 
pression of monastic institutions, and more particu- 
larly the abolition of the right of ecclesiastics to 
interfere in secular affairs ; (4) the restoration and 
maintenance of the national credit by a readjustment 
of the public debt ; (5) the improvement of the moral 
condition of the popular classes, more particularly in- 
struction in colleges by lay professors in place of, or 
at least in addition to, the priests, who had heretofore 
claimed the sole right to teach, and whose curriculum 
was far from broad or edifying ; (6) the abolition of 
capital punishment for political offences ; (7) laws en- 
couraging immigration and colonization, and for the 
better protection of territorial property, and guaran- 
teeing the integrity of the national territory — a dis- 
position having been manifested on the part of Santa 
Anna to alienate it. 

In accordance with this programme, Gomez Farias 
issued a decree abolishing the system of tithes levied 
as a tax for the support of ecclesiastical institutions ; 
and another, enjoining the civil courts from maintain- 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 129 

ing the binding force of monastic vows — thus leav- 
ing members of religious orders legally free to abandon 
their convents if they chose to do so. As the head 
of the University faculty, he instituted some wise re- 
forms in that institution, and excluded the clergy 
from teaching in educational institutions supported by 
national funds. Thus he began the system of govern- 
ment reforms which it took the remainder of the nine- 
teenth century to see accomplished. 

These attempted reforms were not, of course, with- 
out violent opposition, and Gomez Farias was even 
criticised by some of the friends of his administration 
for being too timid on occasions when strong and 
positive action was needed. Yet that he was no mere 
pohtical doctrinaire he showed by some of his more 
vigorous actions, —for example, by consigning Bus- 
tamante to exile as a disturber of the peace and quiet 
of the country ; and by expelling the Spanish refu- 
gees and monks, who, after being driven out of Guate- 
mala and Central America, flocked to Mexico, to the 
demoralization of political affairs there. 

AH this was occurring in the early months of 1834. 
Meanwhile Santa Anna, the wily political schemer, 
was busy in his hacienda of Mango de Clava, concoct- 
ing the "Plan de Cuernavaca," intended to confer 
dictatorial powers upon him in the Presidency — in 
fact, to do all that the emeute of June, 1833, had 
failed to accomplish. The professed purpose of the 
new "Plan" was to reorganize the government, to 
repeal certain laws offensive to the Church, to se- 
cure the banishment of certain persons obnoxious to 
the Conservatives, and to "sustain the peace and 
order" which were represented as being threatened 
by Congress. 

9 



130 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

In accordance with tliis programme, Santa Anna 
returned to office in April, 1834, and at once repu- 
diated the Federal principles he had formerly pre- 
tended to entertain. By a military order, issued by 
him as President, Congress was dissolved, on the 
grounds that it had abused the right of free discus- 
sion, — as in fact it had from Santa Anna's point of 
view, for he had very plainly intimated that if it did 
not comply with his wishes he would silence it by 
force. By another military order, a new Congress 
was assembled, without having so much as a shadow 
of constitutionality to rest under. Pending its as- 
sembling, the entire government was in the hands 
of Santa Anna, and he used the power thus obtained 
for the destruction of the Constitution which at his 
inauguration he had sworn to support and defend. 

The liberal decrees of Gomez Farias were quickly 
annulled, and that able official was deposed from the 
Vice-Presidency without the formality of an impeach- 
ment or trial, and was compelled to leave the country. 
A faithful adherent of Santa Anna was found, in 
General Miguel Barragan, to take the place of Gomez 
Farias, and to serve as Vice-President whenever 
Santa Anna should again see fit to retire from the 
capital and rule the country by deputy. In a word, 
the nation became retrogressive under the " Plan de 
Cuernavaca," and the lovers of liberal institutions 
and good government looked on with dismay but 
without power to interfere. Mexico had already 
gained a world-wide reputation for unstable govern- 
ment and for frequent political changes. Its people 
Avere regarded as restless and revolutionary, and in 
some quarters as being savage and uncivilized. The 
elevation of Santa Anna to such unlimited power was 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 131 

destined to confirm this evil reputation. The coun- 
try was agitated to the verge of anarchy. Petitions 
and declarations in favor of a centralized government, 
emanating from the clergy and the military, were 
poured in upon the so-called " Constitutional Con- 
gress,'' which, when finally convened in January, 
1835, set out to revise the Constitution and to bring 
it into accord with the ideas of the Conservatives. 
These petitions and declarations were received as the 
" Voice of the Nation." At the same time, protests 
and remonstrances on behalf of the Federal Constitu- 
tion, sent in by some of the State Legislatures and by 
the people, received no further notice than to involve 
their supporters in persecution and imprisonment. 

Congress asserted the principles of Centralism in 
one of its first acts, intended to reduce and disarm the 
militia of the several States. The State of Zacatecas 
refused to disband its militia, taking its stand on the 
rights vested in it by the Constitution of 1824. The 
organization of that State had been effected by Gomez 
Farias, and it had imbibed his Federal ideas, and was 
always ready to assert its sovereign rights as a State. 
It was now ready to resort to arms to resist the over- 
throw of Federahsm. The insurrection which re- 
sulted was regarded as of sufficient importance for 
Santa Anna to proceed tliither in person to put it 
down. 

A few days later (May, 1835) the " Plan de Toluca " 
was promulgated, whereby the Federal system was 
declared changed into a Centralized government. A 
new Constitution was adopted by Congress, known 
as Las Siete Leyes (The Seven Laws). It was the 
confirmation of the Centralized System, with but 
one house of Legislature for the entire country. The 



132 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Executive was to be furnished with a " Council " in 
place of a Cabinet. The States, their legislatures 
wholly abolished, were changed into Departments, 
under the control of Military Commandants who 
were responsible to the chief authority of the nation, 
and that authority was concentrated in the hands of 
an individual whose word was to be law. General 
Barragan, as Acting President, issued a decree, on 
the thirtieth of October, proclaiming the Constitution 
of Las Siete Leyes as that of what was termed the 
" Central Republic." 

The openly avowed opinion that Congress had 
power to change the Constitution at will, and with- 
out consulting the several State legislatures or the 
wishes of the people, was vigorously combated by 
several of the Mexican States. They asserted their 
purpose of taking up arms for the reestablishment of 
the Constitution of 1824. None of them were suc- 
cessful, however, save one, Texas, to whose struggle 
against absolutism we shall shortly give some con- 
sideration. 

The Siete Leyes were only a sample of what was 
to follow, and a new Fundamental Law was adopted, 
in 1836, which explicitly rejected the Federal princi- 
ple of government. The change of the States into 
Departments being recognized, they were thereby 
divided into districts, and subdivided into Partidos^ 
and the functions of the Central Government were 
still further enlarged. The Republic became a mili- 
tary oligarchy ; and thenceforth, until 1847, the su- 
preme power in Mexico was vested in whoever might 
be, at the time, the most successful military leader. 

The Federalists did not tamely submit to this new 
order of things, and it was because of conditions 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 133 

almost anarchical in Mexico that the revolt of the 
immense territory of Texas became necessary and 
that its independence of Mexico was made possible. 
That territory had been colonized by Americans 
under charters made to Empresarios as early as 
1821, and renewed from time to time by the suc- 
cessive governments of Mexico. There was every 
prospect of the formation and development of a 
prosperous State in Texas; but as the colonists of 
Anglo-Saxon traditions were unaccustomed to Span- 
ish institutions, and particularly to such fickle gov- 
ernment as that which was over them in the City of 
Mexico, it was impossible for this prospect to be real- 
ized. The colonists were especially outraged by the 
actions of Santa Anna, in despoiling them of rights 
vested in them by the charters and by the Consti- 
tution of 1824. The Constitution of 1836 had been 
adopted wholly without their consent, and their rep- 
resentatives to the Mexican government had been 
shamefully treated and cast into prison without being 
allowed means of getting a hearing for their personal 
claims or for those which they had come to present. 
The Texans were by these means goaded into rebel- 
lion; and in a convention of citizens held in 1836, 
they published a manifesto declaring themselves no 
longer bound to support the Government of Mexico, 
and offering their assistance to such of the Mexican 
States as would take up arms in defence and support 
of their rights guaranteed under the Constitution of 
1824. 

Santa Anna, intoxicated by what he was pleased to 
consider his " uninterrupted military successes," and 
glorying in his self-assumed title of the " Napoleon 
of the West," set out, in February, 1836, at the head 



134 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

of an army of eight thousand of the best troops of 
Mexico, to suppress this rebellion. He concentrated 
his entire army at San Antonio de Bexar, and fol- 
lowed up the atrocious cruelties practised in other 
places by putting the whole garrison of the Alamo to 
the sword. He was about to withdraw his army from 
the territory which he supposed had been completely 
subdued, when he met with a totally unexpected ex- 
perience. The Texans, goaded now to desperation 
by the fresh instances of barbaric despotism furnished 
by the Mexican Dictator, prepared for a final struggle. 
Only 783 strong, under the command of General Sam 
Houston, they met Santa Anna at San Jacinto River, 
on the twenty-third of April ; and after a battle which 
lasted but twenty minutes, they succeeded in captur- 
ing the whole Mexican army, including Santa Anna 
and General Juan N. Almonte, who was destined to 
some future notoriety in the history of the Republic 
of Mexico. 

The majority of the Texans demanded the execu- 
tion of Santa Anna, in retaliation for the cruelties 
practised by him upon their countrymen ; and nothing 
but the firmness of General Houston saved him from 
the fate which he had so often meted out to his po- 
litical enemies. But to General Houston, a Mexican 
Dictator alive was worth far more than one executed, 
however justly. A treaty was entered into, by which 
the entire Mexican forces were to be withdrawn from 
the territory, the independence of Texas was ac- 
knowledged, and Santa Anna was allowed to return 
to Mexico by way of the United States. This, how- 
ever, he was in no hurry to do ; and he did not reach 
his native State until nearly a year after he had left 
the capital of his country, and ten months after his 



SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 135 

capture by the Texans. He then addressed a letter 
to the Mexican Secretary of War, disavowing all trea- 
ties and stipulations with the Texans made under 
duress; and having delivered himself of this com- 
munication, he retired to his hacienda, where he 
remained in deserved obscurity for two years. 

General Barragan was Acting President of the Re- 
public of Mexico at the time of the Texan revolt. 
He died before the battle of San Jacinto was fought, 
and was succeeded by Jos^ Justo Corro, whom Con- 
gress appointed Acting President. Corro, being an 
insignificant and obscure person, was a very suitable 
tool of the Conservative rulers at the capital. One 
notable event characterized his brief administration. 
Notice was received that Spain had at last recognized 
the independence of Mexico, and had sent a Minis- 
ter to represent her in the capital of the supposed 
Republic. 



136 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 



CHAPTER VII 

CENTRALISM UNDER THE ''BASES ORGANICAS " 

OF 1843 

IN 1837 Anastasio Bustamante returned from his 
exile in France, whither he had been sent by 
Gomez Farias, and was elected by his friends in 
Congress to supersede Corro in the titular Presidency. 
One plot after another against the government dis- 
turbed his administration. Almost immediately after 
his accession there was a movement in favor of Fed- 
eralism, and designed to restore Gomez Farias, (who 
was being held as a political prisoner) to liberty 
and to put him into the Presidency in Bustamante's 
place. Another plot had for its supposed object the 
division of the country and the setting up of " The 
Republic of Sierra Madre " upon the eastern slope of 
the mountains so named. The Republic was to be 
composed of the States of that locality, which were 
largely Federalist in their political principles. Doubt- 
less if all the States in which Federalist principles 
predominated had been contiguous, the disruption 
of the country would have ensued, or the Centralists 
would have been earlier forced to yield to the demands 
of the Federalists. These insurrections were, how- 
ever, put down before they had gained any headway. 
In 1838 General Mexia made a brilliant effort for 
the emancipation of Mexico from the rule of Abso- 
lutists. He advanced as far as Puebla with a brave 
band of patriots, and with the purpose of proceeding 



CENTRALISM 137 

to the capital, but lie was encountered by General 
Santa Anna, who had crept forth from his retirement 
to recover his lost popularity by some daring exploit 
of arms, and was intrusted by Bustamante with the 
command of the govermnent troops sent out against 
Mexia. Mexia was taken captive, not by superiority 
of military skill, but by treachery ; and was executed 
by his inhuman captor upon the field of battle. 

It was in the same year that a French squadron 
blockaded Vera Cruz in pursuit of what is known in 
Mexican history as the " Pie Claim." Santa Anna, 
taking advantage of this opportunity to recover the 
military and political prestige lost at San Jacinto, 
took command of the Mexican troops and drove the 
French back to their vessels. In this battle he re- 
ceived wounds that necessitated the amputation of a 
leg. The loss of this member became thenceforth a new 
and important element in Mexican politics. Santa 
Anna was able to plead with his fellow-countrymen, 
when it became necessary to send forth one of those 
manifestos for which he was famous, that his patri- 
otic sacrifices had been greater than those of Napoleon 
(with whom he was fond of comparing himself), as he 
had lost a limb in defence of his native land. 

In 1839 President Bustamante left the care of the 
government to Santa Anna, and put himself at the 
head of the army to repel another insurrection. This 
was likewise a Federalist movement, and was headed 
by Gomez Farias and one of his military friends. It 
started at some distance from the capital, but soon 
spread in that direction; and the following year, 
when Bustamante returned to the capital and to the 
exercise of his presidential functions, he found him- 
self at one time a prisoner in the hands of the insur- 



138 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

gents. Some sort of an understanding was reached 
by which hostilities were suspended, the lives of the 
insurgents were spared under a general amnesty, and 
this insurrectionary movement came to an end with- 
out accomplishing anything for the improvement of 
Mexico. 

It was evident, however, that a more serious struggle 
was pending. In 1842 General Mariano Paredes y 
Arrillaga pronounced against the government. He 
was followed by General Valencia and General Lom- 
bardini in the capital, and by the irrepressible General 
Santa Anna in Vera Cruz. Among various indefinite 
causes alleged for this insurrection was the inade- 
quacy of the Constitution of 1836. There was also a 
well-recognized popular discontent over certain oner- 
ous duties and taxes imposed by the Conservative 
govermnent. 

Bustamante occupied the National Palace at the 
capital, and with his troops held certain other portions 
of the city. General Valencia, in opposition to him, 
controlled the ciudadela from which he cannonaded 
the city. For months the city was in a state of siege, 
with frequent contests in the streets, and some more 
harmless conflicts between the rival troops on the 
adjacent plains. The chief damage was done to inno- 
cent non-combatants in the city, upon whom shot 
and shell occasionally descended. 

The President finally decided upon a more vigorous 
campaign, and took the field against the insurgents, 
leaving the government in the hands of the Senior 
Member and President of the Government Council, 
who was virtual Vice-President under the Constitu- 
tion of 1836. Javier Echavarria, who thus became 
Acting President of the Kepublic, was a merchant of 



CENTRALISM 139 

Vera Cruz, and a notable exception to the military 
character of the Mexican rulers. After fruitless bat- 
tles, and after interviews and negotiations equally 
fruitless, between the chiefs of the different parties, 
the revolution was terminated by a meeting at Tacu- 
baya in September. A " Plan," inspired by the fol- 
lowers of Santa Anna, was agreed upon and signed 
by one hundred and ninety-one persons, by which the 
then existing Constitution was superseded. 

The " Plan de Tacubaya," as it was called, pro- 
claimed a general amnesty to political offenders on 
both sides, and provided that a Congress should be 
called to frame a new Constitution for the better gov- 
ernment of the Republic. A " Junta of Notables " 
was formed, the members to be named by the General- 
in-chief of the army. The junta was to elect a 
Provisional President, who, by one of the articles of 
the " Plan," was to be " clothed with all power neces- 
sary to reorganize the nation and all branches of 
administration " — ^ in other words, to be invested with 
supreme power. The General-in-chief of the army, 
by the appointment of Bustamante, was Santa Anna. 
He selected the junta in accordance with the terms 
of the " Plan." The junta returned the compliment, 
and elected Santa Anna Provisional President. 

The " Plan de Tacubaya " was so far successful 
that Bustamante left the Presidency and departed for 
Europe, and Echevarria was superseded as Provisional 
President by Santa Anna, who thus, after defeat, dis- 
grace, and ca]3ture by his enemies, now recovered the 
Supreme power in the land. A Congress, composed 
of " patriotic citizens " chosen by the people, met in 
June, 1842, and was opened by a speech from the 
Provisional President, in which he positively declared 



140 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

his preference for a firm and centralized government, 
but intimated his readiness to acquiesce in the deci- 
sions of that deliberative hodj. 

After Congress had made two unsuccessful attempts 
to devise a system of government that would be ac- 
ceptable to both parties, Santa Anna thought it best to 
retire from the scene. He placed the affairs of the gov- 
ernment in the hands of General Nicolas Bravo and 
Valentin Canalizo, who were by turns to execute his 
mandates during his absence from the capital. Bravo 
promptly dissolved Congress and revived the " Junta 
of Notables " created under the " Plan de Tacubaya." 
The junta put forth a new Constitution, known as 
the " Bases Organicas Politicas de la Republica Mexi- 
cana." It was dated on the thirteenth of June, 1843, 
and centralized the government still further than the 
Constitution of 1836 had done. 

By its first section, the new Constitution declared 
that Mexico adopted the form of a popular represen- 
tative system for its government; that the territory 
was divided into departments ; that the political 
power resided not in the people but in the nation; 
that the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Creed 
was professed and protected to the exclusion of all 
other forms of religion. The second section abolished 
slavery, and declared that no one should be molested 
for his opinions or called upon for contributions or 
government loans excepting such as were regularly 
imposed by law. The third section declared citizens 
all persons born in Mexican territory, or born else- 
where of a Mexican father, as well as all who were in 
Mexico in 1821 who had not renounced their alle- 
giance ; also all natives of Central America at the 
time it belonged to Mexico, who had continued to 



CENTRALISM 141 

reside in Mexico, and all who had obtained or should 
thereafter obtain letters of naturalization. It limited 
the right of suffrage to male citizens of eighteen years 
and upwards if married, or twenty-one or upwards if 
not married, provided they were in the enjoyment of 
an annual income of at least two hundred dollars de- 
rived from actual capital, industry, or honest personal 
labor ; and after 1850 the suffrage was to be further 
restricted to those who were able to read and write. 
The rights of citizenship were to be forfeited by enter- 
ing into domestic servitude, by habitual intemperance, 
by the taking of religious vows, the keeping of prohib- 
ited gambling-houses, and by fraudulent bankruptcy. 
The legislative power was to reside in a Congress 
divided into a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. 
The first branch was to consist of individuals elected 
by Electoral Colleges in the departments, in the ratio 
of one for every seventy thousand inhabitants, ex- 
cept that every department should have at least one 
deputy. There was also to be a deputy in any de- 
partment having a population of thirty-five thousand 
in excess of the seventy thousand or a multiple 
thereof. The Senate was to consist of sixty-three 
members, — forty-two to be elected by the Depart- 
mental Assemblies, and the remaining twenty-one by 
the Chamber of Deputies, the President of the Repub- 
lic, and the Supreme Court of Justice. The Depart- 
mental Assemblies were to select five persons each 
from the classes of agriculturists, miners, merchants, 
and manufacturers, and the rest of them from the 
class called " Distinguished Individuals." Those ap- 
pointed by the President and by the Supreme Court 
were to be men who had signalized themselves in a 
civil, military, or ecclesiastical career. 



142 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The Executive Power was to be confided for five 
years to a President, who was to be a Mexican by 
birth, in full enjoyment of the rights of citizenship, 
over forty years of age, and a resident of the Republic 
at the time of his election. Among the duties pre- 
scribed for him were the following : He was to impose 
fines, not exceeding five hundred dollars, on those 
who disobeyed his orders, and were wanting in respect 
and obedience to the laws ; to see that prompt justice 
was administered; to visit the tribunals whenever 
informed of delays or of the existence of disorders in 
those bodies ; to require that precedence be given in 
the courts to causes concerning the public welfare; 
to demand information regarding the same whenever 
deemed proper ; and he had the right to veto, within 
thirty days, any laws passed by Congress not meeting 
his approval, said veto subject to being overruled by 
the vote of two-thirds of the members of both houses 
of Congress ; he might declare war, and dispose of 
the armed forces of the nation as he saw fit, in accord- 
ance with the purposes for which they were created ; 
he might expel from the Republic unnaturalized for- 
eigners who were deemed dangerous ; and he might 
name speakers from the Council to defend the opinions 
of the government before the legislative chambers. 

A Council of the Government, composed of seven- 
teen persons to be named by the President, was to 
perform certain duties in aid of the government in all 
matters required by the *' Bases," and in other matters 
upon which it might be deemed proper to consult. 
It was to be the privilege of this Council to propose 
to the government any regulations that might be 
deemed necessary for the public welfare in any branch 
of the administration. The judicial power was de- 



CENTRALISM 143 

clared to reside in a Supreme Court, in Departmental 
tribunals and others already established by law, and 
in a perpetual Court Martial chosen by the Presi- 
dent. Each Department was to have an Assembly, 
but, as defined, this amounted to scarcely more than 
a species of municipal police subject to review by the 
President and the Departmental Governor appointed 
by him. 

The population of Mexico was divided into sections 
of five hundred inhabitants each for the election of 
" Primary Juntas," and the members of each junta 
were to vote by ballot for one elector. These pri- 
mary electors were to name the secondary, — one for 
every twenty primaries; and these latter were to 
form the Electoral College of the Department. The 
Electoral College was to elect Deputies to Congress 
and Members of the Departmental Assembly. Each 
Departmental Assembly was, every five years, to select 
a person for President of the Republic. The person 
receiving the vote of the majority of the Assemblies 
was to be declared elected. The number of terms for 
which a person was eligible was not stated, nor was 
the mode of supplying a vacancy caused by death, 
resignation, or incompetency, provided for. 

Thus had Santa Anna succeeded in forcing upon the 
country his favorite scheme of government by Con- 
tralization of power. He was fortified in his position, 
and his power was intrenched on every side. He was 
absolutely removed from the people. Four millions 
of Indians among his subjects were utterly unrepre- 
sented in the government, and were without hope of 
advancement or of any improvement in their condition. 
Nothing could be less "popular" than the government 
organized upon the Bases of Pohtical Organization of 



144 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

the Mexican Republic, proclaimed in June, 1843, as a 
" Popular Representative Government." 

The people were divided into classes of " citizens " 
and " inhabitants." Property qualifications were cre- 
ated. The voter must have an annual income of at 
least two hundred dollars, the Deputy to the Depart- 
mental Assembly five hundred dollars, the Deputy to 
the Congressional Chamber, twelve hundred dollars, 
and the Senator two thousand dollars. Domestic ser- 
vants and the clergy were disfranchised in the same 
category with gamblers and drunkards. The direct 
vote of the people for men to represent them in the 
Departmental Assemblies, and in Congress or in the 
Presidency, was abolished. The opinions, sentiments, 
and preferences of the people were to be filtered 
through three or more bodies of electors before their 
representatives could be chosen; and the Supreme 
Power was vested in a Central government, the people 
being left with scarcely a shadow of authority over 
their homes and their political interests in the Depart- 
ments. Thus, all the revolutions that had gone on 
in Mexico for twenty years, in which there had ap- 
peared now and then some slight evidence of a 
progressive principle, had culminated in the estab- 
lishment of what was really a retrogressive system of 
government ; and so far from getting nearer to liberty 
and enlightenment, the country had at last reached 
the acme of Centralism and Oligarchy. 

A glance at the social conditions of Mexico at this 
time will in a measure account for this strange situa- 
tion. The people were forced to submit to a twofold 
domination especially fostered by the " Bases," that 
of a military rule and that of the Church. Eight 
million dollars were annually expended upon the 



CENTRALISM 145 

military establishment, and this sum went to the 
support of the younger members of those families 
whose influence it was deemed wise to secure for 
the government. Almost every respectable man met 
upon the streets of the larger cities wore military 
dress. But while to a partially informed observer 
Mexico might thus have appeared as a military 
nation, to the better informed this military strength 
was known to be created and maintained, not to 
protect the nation from foreign aggressions, but to 
guard the government from the assaults of the peo- 
ple. Although for twenty years the country had been 
one vast camp and battlefield, the contests had been 
between the possessors of power and the aspirants 
therefor. The mihtary strength of the nation was 
not only being dissipated, but was working a positive 
injury to the country. 

The Church had accumulated a large share of the 
real property of the country, in addition to the untold 
wealth which swelled its coffers; and its influence 
was naturally in favor of that branch of government 
which preserved its property and protected the re- 
ligious orders through which it derived its power. 
These were direct inheritances from the Spanish 
system, which lingered in spite of the efforts that 
had been made to cast it off. The result was that 
there was in the country no numerous and distinctive 
body of enlightened lawyers or merchants, or educated 
mechanics or agriculturists, to counterbalance the in- 
fluence of the two really influential classes of people, 
— the clergy and the military. An aristocracy of 
arms and of the spiritual power having been created, 
agriculture was regarded as a menial occupation. A 
few Mexicans there were who loved liberty and strove 

10 



146 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

to secure the well-being of the people. Every Con- 
gress that assembled contained some of these. They 
were looked upon as obstructionists by the aspirants 
to political power, and their efforts were in a large 
measure thwarted by the people at large, who, hope- 
lessly unhappy in the condition in which they were 
placed, were indifferent as to the kind of government 
that was over them. 

A Congress was installed in accordance with the 
" Bases," on New Year's day, 1844, and an election by 
this Congress confirmed Santa Anna in the Presidency. 
He at once began to enjoy, to the fullest extent, the 
pomp and circumstance of royalty, rather than the sim- 
plicity presumed to inhere in a Republic. The state 
he observed as President was, in fact, altogether in- 
consistent with the Republican institutions he pro- 
fessed to observe. He rode abroad from the National 
Palace in a coach richly decked with crimson velvet 
and gold, drawn by four white horses, accompanied by 
a troop of gaily caparisoned hussars, and with six 
mounted aides-de-camp at the sides. He wore the rich 
gold-embroidered dress of a General of Division. A 
number of decorations were about his neck, and a 
medal of great brilliancy upon his breast. In his per- 
sonal character he was thoroughly inconsistent. He 
was the habitue of the cock-pit, as he had been before ; 
for it was not at this time considered beneath the 
dignity of the grandees of the country to interest 
themselves in cock-fighting and other low sports. As 
with the government, so with the people ; and the 
morality of the country was at a lower ebb under the 
" Bases " than ever before. 

Congress was at first disposed to sustain the views 
of Santa Anna in regard to the re-conquest of Texas, 



CENTRALISM 147 

and granted four million dollars of the ten millions 
lie desired for that purpose. But when it was" dis- 
covered that the first-named sum was impossible of 
realization, Congress refused to sustain his plans any- 
longer. In point of fact, Congress had become sus- 
picious of the honesty of the President, and was un- 
willing to intrust so large a sum to his control. And 
this was but an indication of the bitter opposition to 
the absolutism of Santa Anna, manifested all over 
the country. Public opinion was being aroused and 
was resulting in popular uprisings. So threatening 
was the aspect of affairs that the President, fearing 
a serious outbreak and always ready to fly before a 
coming storm, asked permission of Congress to retire 
to his estate at Mango de Clava, to arrange his private 
affairs. The " Bases " had made no provision for the 
selection of a President ad interim in such an exi- 
gency, and Congress took the matter in hand. Santa 
Anna was shrewd enough to interpret the meaning of 
the bare majority by which Canalizo, his candidate 
for the office of President ad interim, was elected. 
Canalizo took charge of affairs at the capital, and 
Santa Anna retired to Vera Cruz to indulge in further 
intrigues against the country. 

He had taken the precaution, however, to mobilize 
the better part of the army (ostensibly for his pro- 
posed expedition upon Texas) eastward of the capi- 
tal, where he might avail himself of its services in 
case of need. But his plans were disconcerted by 
a movement in a most unexpected quarter. General 
Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga had been one of the chief 
instruments of Santa Anna in the overthrow of Busta- 
mante and the establishment of the ultra-Centralized 
government, and he had received as the reward of his 



148 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

efficient services tlie position of Military Commandant 
of the Department of Jalisco. He disagreed with 
Canalizo, the President ad interim^ and did not hesi- 
tate to express his disapproval in a most public and 
official manner. He had the Departmental Junta, or 
Assembly of Jalisco, publish an " Initiative," or "Con- 
stitutional Act," as it was called, demanding that the 
National Congress " make the provisional government 
amenable to the Plan of Tacubaya;" that it repeal 
a certain law imposing extraordinary contributions 
(forced loans); and that it reform those articles of the 
Constitution which were inimical to the prosperity of 
the Departments. All the civil and military authori- 
ties of Jalisco indorsed this initiative, and the De- 
partments of Aguas Calientes, Zacatecas, Sinaloa and 
Sonora concurred. Paredes, who was on his way to 
take command of the Department of Sonora, stopped 
at Guadalajara with his troops, and from that city 
dated his pronunciamento against Santa Anna and 
" assumed the functions of Military Chief of the 
Revolution." He took up his position, with fourteen 
hundred men, at Lagos, on the borders of Jalisco. 
Between him and the City of Mexico were the Depart- 
ments of Queretaro and Guanajuato. In the latter 
Department, General Cortazar was established with 
two thousand men, and Paredes depended upon him 
for support. 

Santa Anna, however, started for the City of Mexico 
with eight thousand five hundred men, received some 
additional troops in Puebla, and fixed his headquar- 
ters at Guadalupe, a suburb of the capital. The sit- 
uation was interesting. The Departments of Puebla, 
Vera Cruz, Mexico, Queretaro, and Guanajuato pro- 
fessed loyalty to the Santa Anna government, and 



CENTRALISM 149 

Santa Anna seemed abundantly able to march into 
Queretaro with thirteen thousand men and crush the 
little army of Paredes. But he was confronted by 
constitutional questions. By the " Bases Organicas " 
the President was prohibited from commanding the 
military forces in person without previously obtaining 
the consent of Congress. Such constitutional ques- 
tions, however, were not wont to trouble Santa Anna ; 
and this Constitution, being of his own creation, one 
would think could easily be made to stand aside. 
But he was likewise confronted by a Congress which, 
while not professedly supporting Paredes, was dis- 
posed to support the Constitution. Santa Anna and 
Paredes were both alike engaged in revolutionary acts. 

Santa Anna marched into Queretaro under an order 
signed by the Minister of War. Congress at once 
passed a resolution impeaching the Minister of War 
for issuing such an order, and voted to receive, print, 
and proclaim, and thus to indorse, the pronuncia- 
mento of Paredes. Meanwhile the Departmental 
Junta of Queretaro adopted the " Initiative " of 
Jalisco. Santa Anna threatened to imprison the 
members of the Junta of Queretaro if they did not 
pronounce in his favor. He carried out his threat 
upon three of them, sending them under a strong 
guard in the direction of the capital. 

Congress, with great promptness, summoned the 
Minister of War before it, and demanded of him 
whether he had authorized General Santa Anna to 
imprison the members of the Junta of Queretaro. 
The proceedings of Congress were of such a menac- 
ing character that Canalizo, after consultation with 
Santa Anna, determined upon extreme measures. 
The Deputies, who repaired to the National Palace 



150 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

on the first of December, found tlie doors closed and 
a guard of soldiers to prevent access to the Palace. 
The following day a proclamation was issued by 
Canalizo declaring Congress dissolved indefinitely, 
and all powers of the government, legislative as well 
as executive, conferred upon Santa Anna as Presi- 
dente Proprietario, with Canalizo as Presidente Interino 
until otherwise ordered by Santa Anna. 

Popular indignation rose to its greatest height. 
The Commandant General of the Department of 
Puebla, aided and abetted by the municipal author- 
ities, pronounced against Santa Anna, and a few 
days later the garrison and people of the City of 
Mexico rose up, imprisoned Canalizo and his ministers, 
and thus permitted Congress to assemble. General 
Jos^ Joaquin Herrera, President of the Government 
Council, was advanced by Congress to the place of 
Canalizo. 

The situation increased in^ interest. Santa Anna 
was constitutional President, but was unconstitu- 
tionally in command of troops and (in conjunction 
with Cortazar) in military possession of two Depart- 
ments of the country. The Departments farther north 
were in a state of revolution under Paredes. Puebla 
and Vera Cruz adhered to Santa Anna. The Minis- 
ter of War, under instructions from Congress, now 
ordered Santa Anna to give up the command of the 
military forces, with the understanding that if he re- 
fused, he would be considered a rebel and a traitor, 
for the new provisional government was unquestion- 
ably constitutional. If he chose to disobey this man- 
date, and was successful in his opposition to Congress 
and the constitutional government, he became at once 
the Military Dictator of the country. To obey the man- 



CENTRALISM 151 

dates of Congress was to relinquish his military sup- 
port and place himself at the mercy of his opponents. 

The Senate acted with great dignity and firmness. 
In a document signed by all but four of the Senators, 
it protested against the absolutism of Santa Anna. 
The Chamber of Deputies also protested in like 
manner ; and both houses of Congress resolutely ex- 
pressed a determination to resist any military or other 
encroachments upon the rights of popular govern- 
ment. An exchange of letters between Herrera and 
his ministers on one side, and Santa Anna on the 
other, brought no results ; and on the seventeenth 
of December a decree was issued declaring that the 
government no longer recognized Santa Anna's au- 
thority as President of the Republic, pronouncing 
all his acts as President null and void, and calling 
upon the army under him to submit at once to the 
authority of Congress. 

Continuing his march toward the Capital and his 
messages to the government, Santa Anna proceeded 
in his now clearly unconstitutional course. But the 
government cause gained ground steadily. The capi- 
tal was put in a state of defence, and General Bravo 
was placed in command, with General Valencia as his 
lieutenant. The approach of Santa Anna was antici- 
pated with no little concern, and all the roads leading 
up to the capital were torn up to impede his progress ; 
and although Herrera, in his letters to Santa Anna, 
had urged him to yield to the will of the people 
and avoid bloodshed, preparations were made for a 
desperate struggle. 

Paredes followed Santa Anna, and gave to his ad- 
vance somewhat the character of a retreat. Santa 
Anna was before the gates of the capital throughout 



162 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

the holiday week, but the battle waged was one of 
gasconade ; and Santa Anna withdrew to Puebla. 
From the first to the seventh of January, 1845, he 
made daily attacks on the latter city ; but the Gen- 
eral in command of it replied to his demands, that he 
would never surrender the city so long as he had a 
man left to fire a shot. Santa Anna made an assault 
while the Poblanos were considering propositions made 
to them under a flag of truce, but was finally repulsed 
with the loss of two hundred of his men. 

Thus foiled at Puebla, Santa Anna sent General 
Cortazar, Antonio Haro y Tamaris, and others, to the 
capital, to arrange terms, while he retreated towards 
Jalapa. His troops surrendered a week later, and an 
effort was made to create the impression that Santa 
Anna had escaped from the country. He was cap- 
tured, however, and conveyed under a strong guard 
to Perote. There he was imprisoned, though treated 
with all consideration due to a distinguished soldier 
in misfortune. 

The capture was treated by Congress and by the 
press at the capital very considerately. Only the 
papers of Vera Cruz, Santa Anna's own Department, 
cried aloud for " the blood of the tyrant." Congress 
proceeded in a dignified manner with his impeach- 
ment for high treason in attempting to subvert the 
Constitution and to elevate himself to the supreme 
authority in Mexico as Emperor; for violating the 
Constitution by an arbitrary exercise of power not 
conferred upon him ; for malfeasance in office in 
applying funds of the government to his own use, 
and in sending out of the country, on his individual 
account, several millions of the public money; for 
violating the usages of war at Puebla; for robbing 



CENTRALISM 153 

the mint at Guanajuato; for pillaging cities, and 
appropriating public and private property to his own 
use ; and for refusing to deliver up the command of 
the army when ordered by the government to do so. 

Some of these charges might not have been sub- 
stantiated in all their details, yet there were ample 
grounds for all of them ; and they furnished a com- 
mentary upon the character of the man whose highest 
ambition was to rule Mexico as dictator, and also 
upon the low moral state of the country where such 
acts, as he was unquestionably guilty of, could go on 
unchecked as long as they had in his case. Mexico 
was learning her need of a wholesome public opinion, 
— of a quickened, educated public conscience, — and 
of the necessity of preventing such atrocious crimes 
being committed against her by those to whom she 
intrusted the oversight of her highest interests. It 
was a hopeful sign that the country was awakening 
to a determination to purge the government of iniq- 
uity in high places. It was especially encouraging 
to those who longed for a reformation in Mexican 
public affairs, to see the government proceed in a 
constitutional manner in such a case of malfeasance, 
and not as Santa Anna himself would have done. 
The efforts of such men as Gomez Farias were begin- 
ning to bring good results. 

Perhaps it was well not to deal with the case as it 
would have been dealt with in an Anglo-Saxon coun- 
try. In May, a general amnesty was agreed upon, from 
which were excepted Santa Anna, Canalizo, Haro y 
Tamaris, the corrupt Minister of War, and others who 
were regarded as members of the "ring." It was, 
however, extended to Santa Anna, upon condition of 
his leaving the national territory forever; and to 



154 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Canalizo and others, upon condition of their leaving 
Mexico for ten years. The government was to ap- 
point the place where Haro y Tamaris was to reside. 

While Congress and the public press acted with 
moderation in bringing something like order out of 
the chaos which Paredes and Santa Anna had pre- 
cipitated upon the country, it was quite otherwise 
with the people, who but a short time before had 
dared speak the name of Santa Anna only in praise. 
A wild scene ensued upon his overthrow. A statue 
of him was destroyed by an infuriated mob, and the 
leg he had lost at Vera Cruz, and which had been 
entombed with much pomp at the capital while he 
was at the height of his power, was taken from its 
tomb and dragged about the streets. Ribald songs 
about him were sung in the streets, and caricatures 
v/ere hawked about holding him up to the most scur- 
rilous ridicule. This proved the bitterest potion in 
the cup of mortification that the fallen chieftain had 
to drink. It aroused all the vindictiveness of his 
nature. The treatment he had received while a 
prisoner in the hands of the Texans, was infinitely 
more humane, he declared, than that which he experi- 
enced at the hands of his own countrymen in the 
hour of his misfortune. To some intimate friends he 
announced his intention not to allow a Mexican to 
govern the country if he could prevent it, but to use 
his influence to establish a foreign dynasty to be sup- 
ported by European bayonets. He established him- 
self in Cuba. On arriving in Habana he met General 
Bustamante, who, taking advantage of the general 
amnesty proclaimed at this time, was returning to 
his native land from the exile to which he had been 
condemned by the " Plan de Tacubaya." 



TFAE WITH THE UNITED STATES 155 



CHAPTER VIII 

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES, AND ITS 
CONSEQUENCES 

TEXAS had been independent of Mexico for 
nine years, had established a Repnbhc, and 
had been recognized as such by the United 
States and by the principal nations of Europe. All 
the plans of Santa Anna for its re-conquest had come 
to naught. It was now applying for admission to the 
United States. The project for annexation was re- 
garded with feelings of great bitterness in Mexico ; 
for not only did this project place the United States 
in the position of an oppressive neighbor taking ad- 
vantage of the unhappy conditions that had prevailed 
in Mexico and enabled Texas to gain her independ- 
ence, but it also made the United States a party to 
the dispute over the claim of Texas (under the Treaty 
of Peace concluded between General Houston and 
Santa Anna) to the Rio Grande, and not the Nueces, 
as her boundary. Diplomatic relations between Mex- 
ico and Texas were suspended ; and immediately upon 
the passage of the act of annexation by the Congress 
of the United States, General Almonte, who had been 
Santa Anna's fellow-prisoner at the battle of San 
Jacinto and was now Envoy to the United States, 
demanded his passports and returned to Mexico. 
President Herrera issued a proclamation declaring 
the annexation a breach of international faith, and 



156 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

called upon the citizens of Mexico to rally to the 
defence of the territorial integrity of the country. 

Troops were sent to the Rio Grande to enforce the 
claims of Mexico to the territory in dispute. This 
prepared the way for the United States government 
to send troops, under General Zachary Taylor, to take 
up a position at Corpus Christi. Herrera was evi- 
dently convinced of the inability of Mexico, in her 
then crippled condition, to carry on a successful war 
with the United States, and he showed a disposition 
to negotiate for a peaceable settlement of the terri- 
torial dispute. Nevertheless troops were forwarded 
to the frontier; and among the officers in command 
was General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga. 

During the progress of the war that ensued, the 
changes in the government of Mexico were unusually 
frequent. The Federalists were in the ascendant in 
1845, and Gomez Farias and Herrera were promi- 
nent candidates for the Presidency. The latter was 
almost unanimously elected. A certain weakness in 
declaring his Federalism alienated him from his own 
party, without attracting to him the Church and the 
Centralists who were the natural enemies of his gov- 
ernment. In addition to this, his efforts to avoid a 
conflict with the United States raised a popular clamor 
against his administration, and speedily brought it to 
an end. 

General Paredes, on his way to the seat of war, 
" pronounced " in San Luis Potosi, in December, 
1845, and returned to the capital at the head of 
about six thousand men. A pronunciamento, eman- 
ating from the army in San Luis Potosi and Tam- 
pico, expressed the discontent that was becoming 
general over the administration of Herrera. But no 



WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 157 

acts of violence occurred, and arrangements were 
made for the surrender of the capital without dis- 
order or bloodshed. Paredes reached the capital on 
the second of January, 1846. He called together a 
Junta of Notables, comprising two representatives 
from each Department; and by this Junta he was 
elected President two days later. 

He took an oath at his inauguration to " sustain 
the independence and integrity of the national terri- 
tory against any foreign aggressions whatever, and 
to maintain the Republican popular representative 
system of government according to the Plan of Ad- 
ministration of the Republic agreed to by the act of 
the army on the second of January." The acts of 
the junta were signed by Bravo, Valencia, Almonte, 
and other professed enemies of Paredes. In the 
cabinet appointed by him, Almonte held the post of 
Secretary of War. 

The man who had once built up and now destroyed 
Herrera's administration was a strangely contradic- 
tory character. Many supposed him to be acting at 
this time under the influence of Santa Anna. He 
declined to take up his residence in the National 
Palace, avoided all ostentatious display, and moved 
about the capital unattended by any military or other 
escort. But he was nevertheless an advocate of mon- 
archy; and to the neglect of subjects of greater 
importance then prominently before the people, and 
of the war then in progress, he used his position 
to further a retrogressive movement and to propa- 
gate his monarchical ideas. Lucas Alaman, the pro- 
nounced monarchist, was intrusted by Paredes with 
the task of drawing up a new Constitution similar 
in form to the " Bases Organicas." Paredes was 



158 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

favored, in his monarchical plans, by the Spanish 
minister then in Mexico. He supported a paper 
called El Tiempo, edited by eminent persons of the 
Conservative party, and made it the organ of his 
government. He was intolerant to the extent of 
active persecution of the Liberal writers on the staff 
of El Monitor Repuhlicano, who were outspoken in 
their opposition to his administration. It is remark- 
able that it should have escaped suspicion at the 
time, that he was in collusion with Santa Anna to 
destroy the Republic and to carry out the threats 
which Santa Anna is alleged to have made when he 
entered upon his exile. 

A revival of monarchical ideas in an extreme wing 
of the Conservative party was scarcely to be regarded 
as a novel phase of Mexican politics. It had mani- 
fested itself before to such an extent as to attract the 
attention of publicists. It was one of the phases of 
political life to be taken into serious consideration by 
any one who would attempt to study the constitutional 
history of Mexico or the various efforts to establish 
constitutional government therein. 

When, as late as 1851, a political pamphleteer 
attempted to describe the various parties and factions 
in Mexico, he accorded recognition to the Monarchists, 
but flippantly referred to them as " calling themselves 
Conservatives," and stated that they had assumed the 
task of propagating their "peculiar political heresies," 
and stirring up feeling against the Republic. He 
pointed out, however, the impossibility of the Mon- 
archists making any headway toward the accomphsh- 
ment of their purposes as long as the United States 
maintained a Republic. In according to Lucas Ala- 
man, the celebrated historian and pubhcist of Mexico, 



WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 159 

the chief place in the Monarchical wing of the 
Centrahst or Conservative party, the pamphleteer 
ignored a more outspoken Monarchist than Alaman, 
Paredes, or any of the contributors to Ul Tiempo, and 
overlooked an event quite worthy of his attention 
and of ours, being not without its bearing upon the 
events now under consideration and upon others to 
which we must shortly pass. 

In August, 1840, Jos^ Maria Gutierrez de Estrada 
addressed from his home, in one of the suburbs of 
the capital, a letter "to the President of the Republic, 
upon the necessity of seeking in a Convention the 
possible remedy for the evils which afflict the Repub- 
lic." Tlie letter reviewed, with unsparmg frankness 
and with great accuracy, the attempts and the failures 
of the Mexicans to govern themselves, and proposed 
the establishment of a monarchy under the rule of 
some European prince. In order to write this letter, 
Gutierrez de Estrada resigned the office of Minister 
of Foreign Relations in the Cabinet of Bustamante, 
and also his seat in the Mexican Senate. When read 
in Congress, the letter created a profound sensation. 
The writer's position in society, his respectable ante- 
cedents, and the widespread popular confidence in 
the sincerity of his convictions, prevented his being 
dealt with in accordance with the customs prevailing 
in Mexico at that time. But the feeling against him 
was so strong that he concluded that it was best for 
him to reside in Europe, which he did until near the 
end of his life. 

Paredes was a good soldier but an indifferent ex- 
ecutive, and utterly incapable of inspiring the people 
with any respect for him or any enthusiasm for the 
measures he desired to have adopted. He summoned 



160 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

a *' Constituent " Congress, as it was called, in May, 
1846, and it sat until July. On the sixteenth of 
June it went into a formal election of President, as a 
result of which Paredes was declared elected President, 
and General Nicolas Bravo became Vice-President. 

In the meantime, in March, 1846, General Taylor 
of the United States Army had begun his advance 
from Corpus Christi toward the Rio Grande. On the 
twenty-sixth of that month he was on the banks of 
that river opposite Matamoras, within the territory in 
dispute between the United States and Mexico. On 
that soil the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma were fought in May, resulting in victories for the 
superior arms of the Americans. President Polk, who 
had been elected chief magistrate of the United States 
upon the issue of the projected annexation of Texas, 
asserted in a message to Congress that " by the act 
of the Republic of Mexico, war existed between that 
government and the United States." From the pres- 
ent point of view, and studied in the light of subse- 
quent events, the statement of the Whig members of 
the American Congress is verified, — that the war 
was really begun by General Taylor, who sought an 
opportunity to cross the Rio Grande and take posses- 
sion of Matamoras, which was in undisputed Mexican 
territory. This he did immediately afterward, and 
proceeded to the capture of Monterey the following 
September. Upper California had already submitted 
to the navy of the United States, commanded by Com- 
modore Sloat ; and Santa F^, the key to New Mexico, 
was in the possession of General Kearney. All this 
is now proved to have been part of the programme 
upon which Polk had been elected President of the 
United States, The remainder of the programme was 



WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 161 

carried out in a war of aggression which few histo- 
rians now attempt to justify, with the acquisition of 
territory in view from the start. 

Paredes was at the head of the party in Mexico 
favorable to prosecuting the war, as opposed to the 
policy of Herrera, who, seeing that it was impossible 
for Mexico to gain anything from a struggle with a 
superior power, had been disposed to submit the ques- 
tions at issue to arbitration and arrangement. Again 
lack of unity proved the curse of Mexico, and internal 
feuds opened the way for the success of the invading 
army, and brought the whole land to the feet of the 
government of the United States. 

Paredes, when elected President, received the per- 
mission of Congress to lead the army against the 
United States ; and, also with the permission of Con- 
gress, he left the government in the hands of General 
Bravo in July. A pronunciamento at the Ciudadela, 
in the capital, a few days later, brought the administra- 
tions of both Paredes and Bravo to an end, and made 
General Mariano Salas President. This pronuncia- 
mento had evidently been instigated by letters written 
by Santa Anna, in his Cuban exile. All who had 
been banished for their political opinions since 1821 
were by the pronunciamento invited to return and 
cooperate with the Mexicans in driving the invaders 
out of the country; Congress was to take all nec- 
essary action relative to the war mth the United 
States, and Mexicans were to be guided accordingly. 
General Santa Anna was declared to have had the 
glory of establishing the Republic, and, whatever his 
errors, he was still the firm supporter of public liberty 
and of national honor. Hence he was proclaimed 
leader of the enterprise proposed in the pronuncia- 

11 



162 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

mento ; and Mexico was prepared for another exhibi- 
tion of political inconsistency, and for surrender to a 
man who was acting as the agent of the United States 
with scarcely an effort at concealment. 

Salas was chief of the army at the capital when he 
took charge of the executive office. He was a Mod- 
erate Liberal, and his administration was in the direc- 
tion of Federalism. He succeeded in reconciling the 
various parties and factions, in the face of the peril in 
which all were placed ; Paredes was put under arrest, 
and, though treated with respect, was imprisoned in 
Castle Perote for a time, and finally sent into exile. 
The Constitution of 1824 was reestablished, by the 
decree of Salas, upon the recommendation of Santa 
Anna. Having done this, Salas attempted to extri- 
cate the Presidential office from the tangle in which it 
was found, and convened Congress for a new election. 
Santa Anna was recalled from his exile as the military 
leader most competent to cope with the difficulties 
then presenting themselves. 

It seems to have escaped the attention of the Mexi- 
cans at the time that for Santa Anna then to land at 
Vera Cruz it would be necessary for him to run the 
blockade which the United States army under General 
Scott had established in front of that city ; and it was 
not until afterwards that it was seen that his presence 
in Mexico at such a juncture was only possible through 
the collusion of the United States government. The 
interest of that government in having him at the 
head of the armies of Mexico lay in the understand- 
ing that the wily and unscrupulous politician would 
be sure to add to the discord at the capital of Mexico, 
and thus render the victory of the United States an 
easier one. 



WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 163 

Accordingly Santa Anna landed at Vera Cruz, on 
the sixteenth of August. He was received by but 
few friends, and his welcome was of neither a public 
nor a popular character, nor was it marked by any 
enthusiasm. His personal vanity received a wound. 
He was chilled and disappointed by the coldness of 
his fellow-countrymen. He entertained at a public 
dinner in Vera Cruz a large number of civil digni- 
taries and military officers, and thus succeeded in 
securing something in the way of a demonstration 
and some show of enthusiasm. He was placed in 
communication with Salas, and letters passed between 
them filled with bombastic expressions of patriotism. 
Santa Anna was nothing if not theatrical. He had 
learned, however, to be cautious of his countrymen. 
He tarried, on the plea of ill-health, until General 
Almonte could go to the capital and make sure what 
was the popular feeling, and whether his advent in 
the City of Mexico would be safe. 

He then issued a long manifesto, apologizing for 
his conduct since 1834, and criticising Herrera and 
Paredes very severely. He denounced the proposal 
for monarchy, despite the ugly stories that had ap- 
peared in a French paper to the effect that he had 
sent a memorial to the courts of France, Spain, and 
England, *' offering to put himself at the head of an 
expeditionary army to plant a monarchy on the Mexi- 
can soil, and to place all his influence and resent- 
ments at the disposal and for the service of a foreign 
dynasty." He had denied this story most emphati- 
cally from the place of his exile in Cuba; but the 
evidence seems clear that he had actually entered 
into negotiations of that character. He recom- 
mended that Congress, about to be assembled, be 



164 mOM EMPIRE TO HE PUBLIC 

empowered to regulate all branches of the govern- 
ment, and that the Provisional Executive be entirely 
under its control, and that, until a new Constitution 
could be adopted and proclaimed, the Constitution of 
1824 be revived for the internal administration of the 
Departments. 

On the twenty-second of August, Salas issued a 
Bando Nacional^ or edict, embodying the views of 
Santa Anna, and at the same time sent word to him 
to hasten his appearance at the capital. After further 
correspondence between them, Santa Anna left his 
hacienda, and reached Ayolla on the fourteenth of 
September. It is so usual to find Mexican leaders 
consulting the dramatic features of a situation, that 
we fully understand the selection of this date for 
Santa Anna's proclamation, wherein he hoped to 
enter the City of Mexico on the following day at 
noon, that he might "celebrate with the people the 
two great blessings which had fallen upon the nation, 
— her independence and her liberty, — the Crrito de 
Dolores and the Constitution of 1824." The procla- 
mation was otherwise filled with bombastic profes- 
sions of disinterested patriotism, which are ludicrous 
in view of his well-known love of power and of the 
strong dictatorial character of his government. But 
it was characteristic of the Mexican people that they 
should accept the proclamation in good faith ; and, 
forgetting the manner in which they had driven 
Santa Anna out a year and a half before, under accu- 
sations of treason and robbery (which charges had 
never been so much as denied on his part), that they 
should now receive him in their capital with rejoic- 
ings more enthusiastic than had ever before been 
witnessed in that city. The people were almost 



tFAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 165 

frantic with joy, and seemed to behold in Santa Anna 
their national savior. 

The prosecution of the war with the United States 
was very popular at this time, and Santa Anna's pref- 
erence was to be at the head of the army. He wisely 
shrank from openly assuming the political manage- 
ment of the government. He had been placed in 
power by means of a coalition between the FederaHsts 
and his special partisans. But the division of the 
parties had then recently changed. It was assumed 
that the old Centralists, the "Escoceses," and the 
Conservatives, had gone out of existence. All were 
now Federalists. But the Federalists were divided 
into two factions. One was called " Puro," or Ultra 
Liberal ; the other comprised the " Moderados," or 
Moderates, who were scarcely in advance of the Con- 
servatives. These two factions were now in a conflict 
quite as bitter as any that had formerly existed be- 
tween Conservatives and Federalists. Santa Anna 
was shrewdly aware that he could retain his hold upon 
the popular regard only so long as dissensions were 
kept alive between these opposing factions. 

The election provided for by Salas was eventually 
held in Congress. Each State cast one vote, which 
was determined by the majority of its deputies. Santa 
Anna received a majority of four votes for President. 
A separate vote for Vice-President resulted in the 
election of Gomez Farias. This election by no means 
signified that the popularity of Santa Anna had been 
fully or permanently restored, or that he had the full 
confidence of those who were in public life. He was 
at San Luis Potosi, with a poorly equipped and un- 
disciplined army, and with but scanty means of sup- 
port. The condition of the country was deplorable. 



166 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The army of the United States was rapidly advancing 
upon Buena Vista. Large territories had been sub- 
jugated by the invaders. Santa Anna's position was 
far from an enviable one. He issued despatch after 
despatch and proclamation after proclamation, to stim- 
ulate Congress and the people to uphold him in the 
defence of the country. 

While Santa Anna was thus in the field, Gomez 
Farias was left in charge of the government. In 
January, 1847, he proposed, as a means of raising 
money for the conduct of the war, a forced loan of 
four million dollars from the Church. The Church 
was in possession of all the available wealth of the 
country. Her interests were quite as much imper- 
illed as any in the land, by the invasion of the army 
of the United States ; and she was receiving the pro- 
tection of the army of Mexico quite as much as any 
other of the constituents of the nation. It was but 
right, therefore, that she should assist the govern- 
ment in the prosecution of the war. The Moder- 
ates, however, with their Conservative antecedents 
and clerical sympathies, opposed the measure when 
it was brought before Congress ; and both " Moder- 
ados " and Clericals were greatly exasperated when, 
in spite of their opposition, the measure was adopted. 
They succeeded, however, in creating dissensions in 
the troops raised for the defence of the country. 
They not only resisted all attempts of the govern- 
ment to disarm mutinous soldiers, but they furnished 
resources for the maintenance of a struggle against 
the government, and sought to prevent the decrees 
from being carried into effect by which the Church 
was to be made to disgorge her wealth for the relief 
of the national distress. 



WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 167 

Thus arose the " Polkos Pronunciamento," as it 
was called, taking its name from the President of the 
United States, who was regarded in Mexico as hav- 
ing precipitated this war upon a defenceless country. 
The name " Polkos " was applied to the '' Modera- 
dos," who, under the leadership of General Salas, 
were practically assisting the United States in their 
war of aggression. For a month the streets of the 
capital were scenes of wild confusion and yiolence. 
The efforts of Gomez Farias to obtain the assistance 
of the Church in the prosecution of the war was 
resisted by the "Polkos." While the squadron of 
the United States was in the Gulf of Mexico, and 
preparing to land soldiers in Vera Cruz to march 
upon the capital of Mexico, the " Polkos " were seek- 
ing to make terms of peace with the United States, 
without even attempting to preserve the integrity 
of the national territory. It was the action of the 
'' Polkos" that made the war, on the part of the army 
of the United States, a mere military progress through 
Mexico from the borders of the land to the capital. 

The adoption of the measure proposed by Gomez 
Farias brought Santa Anna back to the capital from 
the battlefield of Buena Vista, where he had suffered 
defeat. He removed Gomez Farias from office, and 
himself resumed the functions of chief magistrate for 
a few days. When he was called again to the seat of 
v/ar, in April, he ignored Gomez Farias, abolished the 
office of Vice-President, and appointed General Pedro 
Anaya as Acting President, or Presidential Substi- 
tute. Anaya was a man of the highest probity, and 
his period of rule, though brief, was. honorable. Lead- 
ing Liberals offered him their services in defence of 
the countrj'-. 



168 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

Santa Anna suffered another defeat at Cerro Gordo, 
and returned with the Mexican army to the capital, 
where he resumed control of the government until 
the occupation of the city by the victorious army 
under General Scott. Then he turned the command 
of the Mexican army over to General Lombardini, 
resigned the Presidency, and, as one who had ac- 
complished all that he had intended, left the coun- 
try. He was succeeded in the Chief Magistracy by 
the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Manuel 
de la Pena y Peiia, who took charge of the govern- 
ment in Caneleja, near Toluca, and then removed it 
to Queretaro. Congress, when convened in Quere- 
taro, appointed General Anaya Acting President, in 
November, 1847. He remained in office until the 
following January, when Manuel de la Pena y Pena 
resumed the office, and held it until the third of June, 
1848. Then, by virtue of an election. General Jos^ 
Joaquin Herrera became President a second time, and 
something hke order was restored for a while to the 
government of Mexico. 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 169 



CHAPTER IX 
THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 

HERRERA was installed in the Presidency, 
in Queretaro, on the third of June, 1848. 
The first important act of his administra- 
tion was to conclude, by a treaty of peace with the 
United States (the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo), the 
war which, though he had tried to avert it, had be- 
gun in his former term of office. As a result of this 
treaty, Mexico was deprived of what might have been 
made her fairest and wealthiest province, compris- 
ing 522,955 square miles of territory, including New 
Mexico and California. 

As the armies of the United States retired, Herrera 
removed the seat of his government to the City of 
Mexico, the rightful capital of the nation. The tasks 
confronting his administration were exceedingly diffi- 
cult. The country had been sadly demoralized by the 
war, though it had been less devastated thereby, even 
in the track of the victorious army, than by the pdmost 
incessant wars that had resulted from the political 
turmoils to which the unhappy nation was subject. 
It was necessary to reorganize the various depart- 
ments of government ; to replenish the national treas- 
ury, depleted notwithstanding the fifteen million 
dollars paid by the United States for the territory 
acquired as the spoils of war; to establish credit 
abroad, and to reunite a divided country, before the 
prosperity of the nation could be advanced. 



170 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

In the face of all these difficulties, Herrera succeeded 
in pursuing, in his administration, a course that v/as 
wise, economical, tolerant, and moral. His cabinet 
was composed of men of honor. He was, however, 
unpopular with the clergy, who lost no opportunity 
for expressing their disapproval of his liberal and pro- 
gressive ideas ; and, in order to delay the accomplish- 
ment of the tasks confronting him in his government 
of the country. General Paredes " pronounced " in 
Aguas Calientes, using as a pretext for his revolt his 
dissatisfaction with the terms on which peace had 
been concluded with the United States. The out- 
break was quickly suppressed by government troops, 
and the land had peace for a time. But the disturb- 
ing elements in the social economy of Mexico were 
only quiescent in order that they might regain their 
wonted strength. 

General Mariano Arista was constitutionally elected 
President in 1850 and was installed in office in 
January, 1851. He had been commander of the Mexi- 
can army at the battle of Resaca de la Palma, and had 
subsequently held the post of Minister of War in 
Herrera's cabinet. He was a man of no scholastic 
attainments, but was possessed of correct judgment, 
having sought to supply the deficiencies in his educa- 
tion by consulting the wisdom of others. He was at 
least capable of impressing foreign nations as being 
liberal-minded, patriotic, honest, and as one of the 
best men of his time and country. 

It was impossible long to hold in check the restless 
spirit of the Mexican political leaders. Arista had 
begun certain reforms in the army, without which it 
was impossible to reform the state. Interference with 
the military branch of the government, like meddling 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 171 

with the religion of the people, was a fruitful source 
of disturbance in Mexico ; and the clergy had already- 
taken alarm at his liberalism. Arista made the fur- 
ther mistake of trying to bring the various political 
factions into accord. Congress was at the time de- 
cidedly Liberal, and united with him in a policy 
of opposition to Centralism. Arista was himself a 
" Moderado." In a conscientious endeavor to concili- 
ate the parties, he appointed to his cabinet persons 
who were not fully in accord with the Federal idea of 
government. This, like compromises attempted on 
former occasions, failed of its purpose, and served to 
hasten the downfall of his administration. 

In July, 1852, a revolution broke out in Guadala- 
jara, in the State of Jalisco, and spread to Chihuahua, 
and even as far south as Oaxaca. It took the name 
of the " Plan del Hospicio," and was clearly in the 
interests of the Conservative element. The Governor 
of the State of San Luis Potosi was assassinated, and 
the revolution otherwise assumed alarming propor- 
tions. Arista found it impossible to act in accordance 
with the advice of his friends without violating what 
he regarded as the law of the land, and he was averse 
to assuming the responsibility of involving the country 
in another civil war. Disheartened at the course af- 
fairs were taking, he resigned the Presidency, without, 
however, dissolving Congress. Thus Mexico lost, in 
an important crisis, one of the best of her rulers, — an 
eminent patriot, a model soldier, and citizen. He left 
the country immediately, and died a year later, in 
poverty and obscurity, at Lisbon, Portugal. 

Congress installed, as Arista's successor, Don Juan 
Bautista Ceballos, who was President of the Supreme 
Court of Justice and a pronounced Moderado. This 



172 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

meant, in his case, that he was strongly inclined to be 
a Conservative. In accordance with former usages in 
such crises. Congress, after releasing all prisoners held 
by the government for political offences, conferred full 
discretionary powers in all branches of the govern- 
ment upon the President, which was equivalent to 
constituting Ceballos Dictator. 

But Congress was far too liberal in its principles to 
suit Ceballos, and he forthwith dissolved the body 
from which he derived both his office and his au- 
thority. Congress immediately reassembled in the 
house of one of the deputies in the capital, passed 
resolutions branding the doughty President as a 
traitor, and proceeded to elect Juan Mugica y Osorio 
to the Presidency ; and Mexico returned once more to 
a state of anarchy and political chaos. Mugica was a 
merchant of the capital, serving at the time as Gov- 
ernor of the State of Puebla. He declined the rather 
shadowy office thus offered him (a rare instance of 
self-abnegation in the history of Mexican public life), 
and Ceballos, realizing the seriousness of the opposi- 
tion to his arbitrary administration, resigned the Presi- 
dency. A military demonstration was made in favor 
of General Manuel Maria Lombardini and Centralism, 
coupled with a demand for a national convention to 
frame a new Constitution. Lombardini was seated 
as Acting President; and Ceballos, to relieve him- 
self of further responsibility and to insure the accept- 
ance of his resignation, went through the formality of 
appointing him President. 

Lombardini had been reared a soldier, had partici- 
pated in the struggle between the " Yorkinos " and 
" Escoceses " in 1828, and had suffered banishment 
by Arista after the war with the United States. He 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 173 

was a clear-headed man, but without any ability 
as a statesman. 

The purposes of the leaders of the revolution which 
was now in progress became apparent when a com- 
mittee of public men started out for New Granada in 
search of Santa Anna. That irrepressible person had 
throughout his exile maintained a correspondence with 
the Conservative, Centralist, and Clerical leaders, and 
no one could be more successful than he in influenc- 
ing the minds of the Mexicans by means of letters. 
He was far more successful in managing the domestic 
affairs of Mexico when abroad than he had been in 
efforts to control them at home. General Lombardini 
had no difficulty in securing the election, by the States, 
of General Santa Anna as President of Mexico. 

He landed in Mexico on the first of April, 1853, and 
almost before the people were aware of his presence 
among them he began a journey which was in the 
nature of a triumphal procession from the coast to the 
capital. Banners and bells, cannon, triumphal arches 
and flowers, were all called into requisition in welcom- 
ing the man who had repeatedly threatened Mexico's 
destruction, and who had never yet answered the 
charges of robbery and treason brought against him ; 
who had been engaged in secret negotiations with the 
United States government, through which the issue 
of the war between that nation and Mexico had been 
disastrous to the latter country; who had intrigued 
with European powers for the institution of monarchy 
in his native land ; and whom the Mexican people had 
more than once declared worthy of death, and had not 
suffered to remain in their land. 

At Guadalupe-Hidalgo, he took the oath as Presi- 
dent on the fifteenth of April. He organized his 



174 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

.government, with Lucas Alaman, the avowed mon- 
archist, at its head as Secretarj^ of State ; and with 
Conservatives, in full accord with his plans of abso- 
lutism, in charge of the other portfolios. Five days 
later he entered the capital, and issued a proclamation 
of general amnesty to all who had been charged with 
political offences. It was an appropriate afterpiece 
to the farce he had been acting ; for nothing could be 
more ludicrous than Santa Anna, guilty as he was of 
every political crime, offering pardon to those who 
had fallen under the displeasure of his adherents 
because of their efforts to support the Constitutional 
Government of Mexico. 

The Centralists and Conservatives were again 
everywhere triumphant. The nation had volunta- 
rily placed itself at the feet of its oppressors, and 
was really entitled to little sympathy. An era of 
the most despotic absolutism ensued. Congress was 
dissolved, and the legislatures of the several States 
were abolished. The government of every city 
having less than ten thousand inhabitants was sup- 
pressed, and the administration of the revenue was 
centralized. Public employees were deprived of the 
right to express an opinion upon public affairs. The 
liberty of the press was curtailed to such an extent 
as to be virtually destroyed. The militia was dis- 
banded, and the army was increased. The Jesuits 
were ree'stablished by decree, dated May first, 1853. 
The Dictator provided himself with ample funds, by 
the sale to the United States, for ten millions of 
dollars, of a tract of land known as the Gadsden 
Purchase. Of this amount, very little found its way 
into the national treasury of Mexico. While thus 
depriving the Mexicans of their rights, and using 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 175 

his position for his personal aggrandizement, Santa 
Anna sought some means to flatter certain classes. 
He reestablished the Order of Guadalupe, originally 
instituted by the Emperor Iturbide, retaining for 
himself therein the office of Grand Master. Throw- 
ing aside all pretentions to Republican simplicity, 
he demanded that he be addressed as " Serene High- 
ness." 

At the same time, plans for the establishment of a 
monarchy in Mexico were being revived, as though in 
fulfilment of his alleged threat ; and in July, 1854, 
Santa Anna appointed Gutierrez de Estrada (who 
had been maintaining an active correspondence with 
the Clerical and Monarchical leaders in Mexico) a 
special commissioner to negotiate with the govern- 
ments of France, England, Austria, and Spain, for 
the establishment of a European prince upon a throne 
to be erected in Mexico. But for the sudden and 
timely fall of Santa Anna, some results might have 
been obtained from these negotiations. " Whom the 
gods would destroy they first make mad." Santa 
Anna's personal vanity carried him to the extent of 
madness. To many persons who by no means sanc- 
tioned his acts, his assumptions of grandeur were the 
subject of ridicule. The army was naturally pleased 
with his policy of Centralism, and some of the garri- 
sons were ready at any time to proclaim him Em- 
peror. There were some who actually believed that 
his strong personal government was necessary to save 
Mexico from anarchy and ruin. He had a body of 
sychophants about him who held him up before the 
people as a self-sacrificing hero who was giving up 
his all to the public good. But his pride and arro- 
gance caused his final downfall. 



176 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

■ On the sixteenth of December, 1853, he issued a 
decree declaring himself Perpetual Dictator. A gov- 
ernment was thereby established more absolute than 
any Mexico had ever yet known. The press was 
muzzled, and a system of espionage was instituted 
by which the enemies of the Dictator could be dis- 
covered and brought to punishment. The Dictator- 
ship was to be largely a government by intrigue. 
High Liberals were imprisoned, and the " court " of 
the Dictator was filled with the most vicious members 
of society. 

' Alaman promptly resigned the portfolio of State. 
Monarchist as he was, he was disgusted with the 
prospect of Mexico under the Imperial rule of such 
a man as Santa Anna. A revolution long brewing in 
Acapulco finally broke out. The leader was the old 
revolutionary hero, General Juan Alvarez. A new 
order of things was dawning upon Mexico. 

Alvarez was a full-blooded Indian, who exerted a 
great influence over the people of his race. He had 
served under Morelos, and had never ceased to love 
liberty. At this time he was over sixty-three years 
of age, and was serving as governor of the State of 
Guerrero. The Dictatorship of Santa Anna proposed 
to deprive him of his governorship and destroy the 
sovereignty of his State. 

The new revolutionary movement was called the 
" Plan de Ayotla." It called for a Congress to form 
a new Constitution, by which a Federal Republican 
system would take the place of the Dictatorship estab- 
lished by Santa Anna. The " Plan " as originally 
set forth was somewhat modified, in order that it 
might commend itself to the " Moderados," or less 
extreme Conservatives, and gain their support, which 



THE ''PLAN BE AYOTLA" 177 

seemed to mean its eventual success ; and more par- 
ticularly that it might gain the support of General 
Ignacio Comonfort, who was destined to be a leader 
in the affairs of Mexico at a critical period of her 
history. 

Comonfort was in many respects a remarkable man. 
He was at this time about forty years of age, and in 
addition to his military training (he was a captain of 
cavalry as early as 1832, and had risen to the rank 
of General since) he had some knowledge of pubhc 
affairs. He was prefect of Tlalpa when scarcely more 
than of legal age, and at the age of thirty v^^as a deputy 
to Congress ; and again, four years later, was sitting in 
the Congress at Queretaro. He was then chosen Sena- 
tor by the State of Puebla, and served until 1851. 
He was a third time elected to Congress in 1852, 
and served subsequ.ently as Custom-House director. 
His dismissal from this post by Santa Anna was the 
direct cause of his joining Alvarez and attaching him- 
self to the '' Plan de Ayotla." He was of the Liberal 
party, but was disposed to be conciliatory, and pro- 
posed the modification of the original " Plan " which 
was intended to attract the " Moderados." 

Comonfort organized and reinforced the troops iden- 
tified with the new movement, and found himself at 
the head of an army ready to assume the aggressive 
and make itself formidable to the Dictator at the 
capital. The " Plan " received jubilant support from 
every quarter. It was seconded by distinguished lead- 
ers in Michoacan, in Nuevo Leon, in Tamaulipas, in 
San Luis Potosi, in Vera Cruz, and in the State of 
Mexico. Santa Anna, being unsuccessful in his efforts 
to suppress the revolution, now tried to conciliate the 
malcontents by changing his policy. He removed the 

12 



178 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Conservatives from his cabinet, and appointed " Mod- 
erados " in their places. But it was all to no purpose. 
His changes of front while he was in office deceived 
nobody. It was only when he y/as out of the coun- 
try that his professions of conversion to Liberalism 
affected the popular mind. The " Plan de Ayotla " 
continued to gain ground. The popular elections, 
proposed by Santa Anna to determine whether or not 
his government by Dictatorship should continue, were 
so fraudulently manipulated by the Conservatives as 
to increase the popular discontent and contribute to 
the success of the cause of Alvarez and of the *' Plan 
de Ayotla." 

Santa Anna gave up the governmental experiment 
as hopeless. He appointed a triumvirate, composed 
of the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, 
General Salas, and General Martin Carrera, to admin- 
ister the government during his proposed absence 
from the capital ; then he secretly left the city, on the 
night of the ninth of August, 1855, and was escorted 
by Haro y Tamaris to Perote. There he issued a mani- 
festo — the last of the remarkable papers of that class 
by which he was to address the Mexican people. It 
commended his own services, and laid upon others the 
culpability of having ruined the country. On the thir- 
teenth of August he went into voluntary exile. He 
was never again permitted to take a prominent part 
in the politics of Mexico. 

According to the new " Plan," Santa Anna was to 
be deprived of the Presidency ; a President ad interim 
was to be appointed by a Junta, or Assembly of Rep- 
resentatives from all the States ; and a Congress was 
to be convened for the purpose of adopting a consti- 
tution by which Mexico was thenceforth to be gov- 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 179 

erned. Santa Anna had, by his own act, obviated 
the necessity of taking the first step in this pro- 
gramme ; and the leaders of the " Plan " proceeded 
forthwith to convene a "Constituent Congress," as 
it was called. In the anarchy which followed the 
flight of Santa Anna from the capital, General Rom- 
ulo Diaz de la Vega became Acting President, by the 
nomination of the garrison at the capital and with the 
consent of the governing triumvirate appointed by 
Santa Anna. He was quickly succeeded by General 
Martin Carrera, who resigned within a month, and 
the duties of the Executive office again devolved upon 
General Diaz de la Vega, who practically represented 
the party sustaining the " Plan de Ayotla," and he ap- 
pointed a cabinet composed of Liberals and adherents 
of the " Plan." • 

The Junta of Representatives was convened in 
Cuernavaca, for the election of a President ad in- 
terim until the whole programme of the "Plan de 
Ayotla " could be accomplished and a Constitutional 
President could be elected and installed. General 
Juan Alvarez, General Ignacio Comonfort, Melchor 
Ocampo, and Santiago Vidaurri, were candidates for 
the office of President ad interim. The choice fell 
upon General Alvarez, and he received the recogni- 
tion of the representatives of the foreign governments 
at the capital. 

Two distinct factions among the professed adher- 
ents to the " Plan de Ayotla " made themselves con- 
spicuous as soon as the adherents of the "Plan" 
entered seriously upon the tasks they had set them- 
selves to accomplish. Comonfort and his immediate 
followers, calling themselves " Moderados," were dis- 
posed to compromise somewhat with the past, and to 



180 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

invite the cooperation of the parties then in existence 
and lately in power. As a result of their conciliatory 
action, some pronounced Conservatives had professed 
adherence to the " Plan." Antonio de Haro y Tama- 
ris, Felix Zuloaga, and others, were among them. 
These afterwards proved utterly unfaithful to the 
party supporting the " Plan," and withdrew to organ- 
ize the party of the Reactionaries, which included the 
clericals and clerical sympathizers, and the Ultra-Con- 
servatives. The other faction was thoroughly radical, 
and would make no compromises whatever with the 
past misgovernment of the country. The members 
called themselves " Puros," and came to be known as 
High Liberals, Advanced Liberals, and later as the 
Reform Party, They brought new names into promi- 
nence in the history of Mexico, — Melchor Ocampo, 
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, and Benito Juarez, among 
them. 

General Diaz de la Vega tried to harmonize these 
two factions in the interests of the " Plan de Ayotla," 
by appointing representatives of both upon his cabi- 
net ; but this experiment resulted as similar ones had 
done before in Mexican public affairs, though the 
administration of Diaz de la Vega was of too short 
duration to bring about the disasters that had pre- 
viously ensued from such attempted conciliatory 
measures. 

The Advanced Liberals sent to Alvarez, immedi- 
ately after his election, begging him to come at once 
to the capital and begin his plans for the reorganiza- 
tion and reformation of the nation. The " Moder- 
ados," or less advanced wing of the new Liberal 
party, showed themselves still under the spell of the 
Conservatives, by seconding the appeal of the clergy 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 181 

and aristocrats for Comonfort to take charge of the 
government and "free society from the invasion of 
the barbarians." For Alvarez, himself a pnre Indian, 
was being accompanied upon his march to the capital 
by a body-guard of Indians. Between these and the 
hordes of savage Indians whom Hidalgo had aroused, 
the Conservative alarmists sought to establish analo- 
gies; and they were not averse to arousing a race 
feeling to carry their ends. 

Alvarez arrived in the capital, with his body-guard 
of Indians, in November, 1855, and organized his gov- 
ernment with Comonfort as his Minister of War, and 
Benito Juarez as Minister of Justice and Ecclesiasti- 
cal Relations. These appointments were, in effect, a 
notice to Centrahsts, Conservatives, Clericals, and the 
Military Power, and even to the " Moderados,'* that 
Mexico was to be free from their control, and was to 
be supplied with a government based upon a funda- 
mental law seeking the highest welfare of the 
governed. 

The Advanced Liberals had formulated a definite 
programme for the constitutional regeneration of the 
country, and it was one of the steps in the reform of 
the government that was promulgated, on the twenty- 
third of November, 1855, in what is known as the 
"Ley Juarez." This law (taking its name from 
Benito Juarez, its author) was intended to regulate 
the administration of justice and the organization of 
courts of law. By certain articles of this law, special 
courts were suppressed, and jurisdiction in civil cases 
was removed from military and ecclesiastical courts. 

This might seem like beginning at the wrong end 
to work a great reform in the constitutional gov- 
ernment of a nation; and the measure was, indeed, 



182 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

censured by the enemies of the Liberal government 
as an attempt, from ulterior motives, to humiliate 
the clergy and limit their influence. The fact is 
that these measures were in strict conformity to 
the "Plan de Ayotla," and were necessary to pre- 
vent political disturbances already threatening ; they 
formed, therefore, an important part of the Liberal 
programme of reform. It was felt, after long and 
patient study of the subject, that this measure would 
strike at the very source of some of the greatest evils 
from which the country had long suffered. For one 
of the inheritances Mexico had received from the 
period of Spanish rule was the exclusive jurisdiction 
claimed by ecclesiastical and military courts in all 
cases, civil and criminal, in which clerics or soldiers 
were involved. The evils of such a system are easily 
seen when it is considered that half the crimes com- 
mitted in Mexico were by men amenable only to 
military courts, and that these courts were exceed- 
ingly lax in the administration of justice. More 
than a quarter of the landed property in the country 
belonged to clerics, and even the women who kept 
house for them, and their servants, evaded the pay- 
ment of just debts because the tradesmen could not 
enforce their claims in the civil courts. 

The ecclesiastical authorities saw at once, in the 
passage of the " Ley Juarez," an attack upon the rights 
of the Church, — their petted fueros, — and they pro- 
tested most vigorously against the passage of the law 
and against the means which the Liberals proposed 
should be provided for the administration of justice 
and for equalizing the operations of law. This cleri- 
cal opposition brought into prominence the Bishop of 
Michoacan, the Rt. Rev. Antonio Pelagio de Labastida 



THE ''PLAN DE AYOTLA" 183 

y Davilos, who had been but recently advanced to the 
Episcopate. He was a native of Morelia, and had 
gained some notoriety there, as a parish priest and 
orthodox pulpit orator, by preaching against liberal 
and democratic doctrines and against Freemasonry. 
He had thus made the home of Morelos, and the entire 
State of Michoacan, a great bulwark for the Conserva- 
tives. In March, 1854, he anathematized from the 
pulpit, as heretical, the doctrines of Ocampo and 
Miguel Lerdo. His zeal in that regard was rewarded 
by his elevation to the Episcopate. 

Alvarez was without ambition to rule the coun- 
try, and complied with the request of some of the 
" Moderados " that he resign. Having all confidence 
in Comonf ort, he practically abandoned the Presidency 
to him, on the twelfth of December, 1855. Comon- 
fort, with the evident intention of carrying his policy 
of conciliation and compromise as far as possible, ap- 
pointed, as his cabinet, men who had been identified 
with the former governments, as "Moderados " or Con- 
servatives ; thus relieving of office Benito Juarez, who 
was in disfavor with the " Moderados " and Clericals. 

Comonfort continued, however, to reform the army 
and advance the principles of the Liberals. The 
next decisive step in the direction of reform was 
the famous " Ley Lerdo," — the production of Juarez 
and Ocampo, though revised and introduced in Con- 
gress by Miguel Lerdo de Tejada and passed on the 
twenty-fifth of June, 1856. Lerdo was especially ac- 
tive among the men who were endeavoring to reform 
the nation, though he had taken a prominent part in 
the movement by which Santa Anna had been re- 
called in 1853. He afterwards allied himself with the 
Liberals, and continued with them to the end of his 



184 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

life. He was a native of Vera Cruz, had received a 
collegiate education, and had engaged in commercial 
pursuits. He had likewise acquired a reputation as 
a statistician and publicist, and had published a history 
of the State of Vera Cruz. Alvarez appointed him 
Under Secretary of Public Works, and Comonfort 
made him Secretary of the Treasury, in May, 1856. 
It was in the latter capacity, and with extensive 
statistical and politico-economical knowledge at his 
command, that he was able to revise and complete the 
law which is known by his name, and which revolu- 
tionized Mexico. 

This "Ley de Desamortizacion civil y ecclesiastica," 
as it was officially called, removed from all corpora- 
tions, civil and ecclesiastical, the right to own lands 
beyond what was necessary for the transaction of 
their legitimate business, and thus prevented the 
accumulation of wealth in hands where it would be of 
no benefit to the commonwealth. It gave to all 
lessees of Church property the right to purchase the 
same on advantageous terms, at a price to be assessed 
by commissioners appointed for that purpose ; and 
gave the right of " denunciation," by which any im- 
proved untenanted property of the Church could be 
entered and possessed and the title secured by any 
citizen. All unimproved land of the Church was to 
be sold at an assessed value. The Church was to 
receive the proceeds of all these transactions, but the 
land was to be freed from ecclesiastical control and no 
longer exempt from taxation. Up to the end of the 
year 1856, the total'value of property transferred under 
this decree was over twenty millions of dollars. 

The Clericals made strenuous efforts to defeat this 
law. The bishop of Puebla protested against the in- 



THE ''PLAN BE AYOTLA'' 185 

tervention of the government in matters belonging 
to the Church, and preached sermons of a seditious 
character thereupon. The Archbishop of Mexico de- 
sired that the question involving ecclesiastical fueros 
be submitted to the Pope of Rome — a proposition 
which was at once indignantly refused by the govern- 
ment of Mexico. Why should a foreign ecclesiastical 
potentate be called upon to decide a question between 
the Mexican government and its subjects ? — and es- 
pecially a question in which the Pope had an interest 
identical with that of one of the parties ? 

A reactionary movement was organized in Puebla, 
where forces variously estimated at from five to fifteen 
thousand were mobilized by the Clericals. Antonio 
de Haro y Tamaris was given the title of General-in- 
chief of these forces. He had never fully accepted 
the principles of the Liberals, and after recognizing 
Comonfort and the " Plan de Ayotla," he returned to 
the Conservatives with whom he had been accustomed 
to affiliate. In January, 1856, he had been suspected 
of attempting to establish an Empire, with either him- 
self or a son of Iturbide as Emperor. He was then 
arrested, and taken to Vera Cruz, to be sent into exile. 
He escaped to Puebla, and in February placed himself 
at the disposal of the Clerical Reactionaries. 

Puebla was besieged by the government forces. 
Haro y Tamaris defended the city obstinately; but 
Liberal ideas spread, disaffection grew up among the 
soldiers, and on the twentieth of March the gates 
of the city were opened to the besiegers. Haro y 
Tamaris was taken prisoner and sent into exile. 

Comonfort not only acted with great promptness 
and decision in regard to suppressing the revolution 
in Puebla, but he issued a decree punishing the Re- 



186 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

actionary officers and causing the sequestration of 
enough of the Church property in the Diocese of 
Puebla (whose clergy had been the chief instigators 
of the insurrection) to pay the expenses of the war 
and to indemnify the government for all damages 
sustained thereby. It was a bold step, and created a 
sensation. 

Despite all opposition, Congress passed the "Ley 
Lerdo," eighty-two out of ninety deputies voting for 
it. The law took effect on the twenty-fifth of June. 
On the fifth of that month the Jesuits were sup- 
pressed by a decree of the government. The Reform 
was advancing. But the Clergy were in opposition, 
and from that time the war-cry of the Clerical Reac- 
tionaries was Religion y Fueros. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 187 



CHAPTER X 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 

THE moral condition of the country at this 
time was in itself sufficient proof of the 
need of constitutional reform in Mexico. 
The law of the land, as it was administered under 
the inefficient political institutions of the middle of 
the nineteenth century, was wholly inadequate to 
protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, 
the possession of property and the pursuit of happi- 
ness. The country was overrun by banditti. Even 
the most travelled thoroughfare in Mexico, — that 
between Vera Cruz and the capital, — was exceed- 
ingly unsafe. Bands of thieves frequently waylaid 
the diligencias (the popular conveyance of those 
days), and robbed the passengers of all they possessed. 
Life was held very cheap, and murders, either for 
robbery or for revenge, were of frequent occurrence. 
To travellers, the roadside crosses, so frequently seen 
in all parts of the country, were explained as mark- 
ing the places where violent deaths had occurred. 
As in all such countries, the crimes committed by 
the bandits, thieves, and murderers, who thronged 
the country, were alleged to be too easily condoned 
by the Church, and hence were in a measure charge- 
able upon the Clerical party. They were, in fact, to 
a large extent committed by persons who, previous 
to the passage of the " Ley Juarez," had, through 



188 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLI'G 

some military or ecclesiastical connection, been ex- 
empt from the jurisdiction of the civil courts. 

From the time of the Independence of Mexico, 
constitutional government had been viewed, by those 
who gave any attention whatever to it, as in its experi- 
mental stages, even when appearing to the best advan- 
tage. The numerous " Pronunciamentos," " Plans," 
and " Bases," proclaimed in the years from 1824 to 
1857, seemed to argue fatal defects in the Constitution 
of 1824, and to suggest the question of the possibility 
of self-government in Mexico under any form that 
might be devised. The opinion that it was impossi- 
ble was held not alone by the Monarchists, but by 
more disinterested observers of public affairs. It 
was declared in 1846, that since 1823 there had been 
no less than seventeen revolutions in Mexico ; and 
it was pertinently asked, Could it be said that a 
nation was competent to govern itself in which 
revolutions were of such frequent occurrence ? Had 
Mexico governed herself peaceably even for a single 
year? 

The rapidly growing Liberal party had set out to 
answer the question of the ability of Mexico to gov- 
ern herself. That party thought that if she were 
now given a new Constitution, based upon what she 
had learned from her past experiences and what had 
been learned for her by the study of the political sys- 
tems of other nations, she would be able to establish 
a strong and safe government, and maintain peace 
and order. The Liberals were, for the most part, 
careful and thoughtful Republicans, who had begun 
to see that the Constitution of 1824, while the origi- 
nal after which it was modelled might be sufficient 
to furnish stable government for the Anglo-Saxons 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 189 

north of the Rio Grande, was wholly unsnited to the 
government of people having the peculiar tempera- 
ment of the Spanish- American or the Mexican Indian, 
and the unhappy traditions and political training 
received from three centuries of Spanish domina- 
tion. While refusing to take the ground assumed 
by Gutierrez de Estrada or Paredes, they felt that 
something should be done to provide as strong a 
government as any that Mexico had yet secured. 
They desired, and believed it possible to obtain, a 
Constitution sufficiently centralized to suppress an- 
archy at home and aggressions from abroad, and yet 
to have popular features which the other Constitu- 
tions lacked. It was especially necessary to secure 
such a Constitution as would check the aggressions 
of the Church party and the military arm of the gov- 
ernment. The military should be the servant of the 
government, not its master. Mexico should no longer 
be a mere military oHgarchy, nor an ecclesiastical 
hierarchy, if it would serve the best and highest 
interests of the people. 

If Mexico were ever to become a free nation in the 
fullest meaning of that term as understood by Anglo- 
Saxon peoples, the establishment of a Constitutional 
Confederacy was of the highest importance, with the 
assurance that such an institution would be perma- 
nent and that peaceable self-government would be 
secured. The establishment of religious liberty was 
of importance scarcely secondary. It was also highly 
important that a system of free education be estab- 
lished ; that the press be made absolutely free ; that 
Church lands be distributed among the people at 
such prices that all classes might be enabled to be- 
come freeholders ; that the army be reduced ; that 



190 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

the corruptions of government patronage be purged 
away ; that the civil service be freed from abuses ; 
that the judiciary be purified, and the laws be fairly 
administered between man and man ; and that immi- 
gration be encouraged. Such were the tasks which 
the Liberals set themselves to accomplish in 1857, 
fully appreciating the difficulties that opposed the 
successful accomplishment of all they had planned. 
The most important of the reforms proposed were 
those touching the Church in her relation to the State. 
These also required the most delicate handling. It 
would be a grave error to suppose that the clergy 
in Mexico had been engaged, throughout the years 
of the Church's existence there, solely in enriching 
themselves, and in scandalizing the Faith. The 
wealth of the Church was not at all times devoted 
to base and sordid objects, or used to corrupt its pos- 
sessors or the people. Few countries have been 
better supplied than Mexico with hospitals and asy- 
lums. The Sisters of Charity there, as elsewhere, 
pursued their vocation with zeal and energy, and 
with excellent results. The rural clergy throughout 
the land acted as the protectors, advisers, and friends 
of the members of their flocks, and were always the 
agents of charity and mercy. They were the de- 
fenders of the Indians, interposing on their behalf 
in times of persecution or whenever they were 
menaced with injustice ; and they ever stood forth 
as the champions of outraged rights. The class to 
which Hidalgo, Morelos, Matamoros, and a host of 
others in their time, belonged, had not by any 
means died out. It was largely due to these that 
so many people attached themselves to the clergy, 
and enlisted themselves in defence of the Church. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 191 

and of church property whenever an attack was made 
upon either. 

The clergy generally became, in their turn, jealous 
and watchful of the power which this popular affec- 
tion created. Avarice was not wanting to increase 
their gains, — from dying penitents, pious bequests ; 
from the living, holy offerings and lavish endowments. 
It was not unnatural that the Church should desire 
to preserve the property that had been accumulated 
during many years of religious toil ; nor that the 
religious orders should dread the advance of that 
intellectual march which was sure, sooner or later, to 
consign their monastic establishments to destruction, 
as in other countries. 

What the wealth of the Church in Mexico at this 
period was, though it might be interesting to know, 
it would be impossible so much as to estimate. Fif- 
teen years previously, it had been estimated that 
there were two thousand nuns, seventeen hundred 
monks, and thirty-five hundred secular clergy in 
Mexico, and that the number of their conventual 
estates was one hundred and fifty. The nuns alone 
possessed fifty-eight estates, or properties, producing 
an annual revenue of five hundred and sixty thousand 
dollars ; in addition to a floating capital of four mil- 
lion five hundred thousand dollars, producing an 
annual income of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. While the above number of clergy was in- 
adequate to the spiritual needs of a population esti- 
mated at that time at seven million souls, it was 
small indeed to be the possessor of estates worth at 
least ninety million dollars. 

The clergy to some extent defeated the purposes of 
the '' Ley Lerdo," by denouncing all who would pur- 



192 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

chase the lands of the Church under that law, and 
declaring that the "Curse of God" would rest upon 
them because of their unholy traffic in holy things. 
The public was by these threats terrorized from pur- 
chasmg at the government sales, and few bidders were 
found with courage to risk the " Curse." Those who 
were not thus terrorized, and were of a speculative 
turn, saw their opportunity, and bought in the prop- 
erty at low figures, and thus made fortunes at slight 
outlay, while gaining the more bitter enmity of the 
Church. All this served to make the task of the 
government reformers the more difficult. 

One of the avowed purposes of the "Plan de 
Ayotla," even as modified by Comonfort, was to con- 
vene a Constitutional Convention. Alvarez, by a de- 
cree issued from Iguala in September, 1855, called 
such a Convention, or " Constituent Congress," to 
meet at Cuernavaca, in the State of Morelos, on the 
fourth of the following month. This Convention was 
composed of twenty-five members, each of the States 
and Territories sending one representative. It organ- 
ized with Gomez Farias as its presiding officer, and 
with Benito Juarez as one of its secretaries. Among 
its members were Melchor Ocampo, F^lix Zuloaga, 
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, and Manuel Doblado, of 
whom mention will be made hereafter. 

The first step toward securing a Constitution was 
the adoption of a tentative or provisional Constitution 
entitled " Estatico Organico Provisional de la Repub- 
lica Mexicana." This consisted of one hundred and 
twenty -five articles, and was promulgated by Comon- 
fort, by virtue of authority conferred upon him by 
the " Plan de Ayotla " Its principles were Centralist, 
so far as these concerned the organization of the ex- 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 193 

ecutive and judicial powers of the government. It 
was Liberal in its definition of the civil and political 
rights of the Mexicans. But even these Liberal pro- 
visions were neutralized by the eighty-second article, 
which gave to the President discretionary power when- 
ever in the judgment of a Council of Ministers this 
should be necessary in order to defend the independ- 
ence or the integrity of the territory, to maintain the 
law and the established order, or to preserve public 
tranquillity — with the proviso, however, that in no 
case should the death penalty, nor certain other pro- 
hibited punishments, be imposed. 

Local disturbances made it inexpedient for the 
Constituent Congress to continue its sessions in Cuer- 
navaca, and it removed to the City of Mexico, thus 
carrying the war into the enemy's country. Each 
proposition regarding the new Constitution was an 
attack upon some abuse that had existed perhaps for 
three centuries and involved the wealth or the influ- 
ence of some powerful class. It was proposed, for 
example, to prohibit forced labor, monopolies, alcaha- 
las (or inter-state customs duties), the acquisition of 
property by religious communities, and many other 
common features of Mexican life. These prohibitions 
were suggested, not as mere doctrinaire theories, but 
as solutions of some of the social problems presented 
to the reformers of the Constitution. In opposition to 
the proceedings of the Congress, the Bishops through- 
out the country issued pastoral letters denouncing the 
Reform propositions and the entire Constituent Con- 
gress. They went so far as to excommunicate certain 
officials in the City of Mexico who had been active in 
executing the "Ley Lerdo." 

Comonfort had yet another bold stroke to make 

13 



194 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

before the work of the Constituent Congress could be 
completed. In September, 1856, he received informa- 
tion that a conspiracy against the government was 
hatching among the Franciscans in the monastery 
whose magnificent buildings dominated that portion 
of the capital between the Main Plaza and the Ala- 
meda. The national troops were ordered to take 
possession of the building and to arrest the inmates. 
The monastery was suppressed and the magnificent 
property was confiscated. The decree of suppression 
was subsequently recalled, but the confiscation was 
allowed to stand, and soon afterwards a street v/as 
opened up through the property. To this street the 
name " Independencia " was given, — intended to 
signify the era of Independence which the Liberals, in 
the face of the opposition of the Clericals, were striv- 
ing to bring in. This action on the part of Comon- 
fort excited further active sedition on the part of 
the clergy, which the government sought to suppress 
by banishing some of the more conspicuous clerical 
leaders. 

The new Constitution was finally ready for adop- 
tion. It proclaimed in its preamble that it was set 
forth " in the name of God and with the authority of 
the Mexican people." The strong declaration of the 
first section was that " The Mexican people recognize 
that the rights of man are the basis and the object of 
social institutions. Consequently they declare that 
all the laws and all the authorities of the country 
must respect and maintain the guarantees which the 
present Constitution establishes.'* It went on to 
declare that " the national sovereignty resides essen- 
tially and originally in the people, and is instituted 
for their benefit. The j)eople have at all times the 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 195 

inalienable right to alter or modify the form of their 
government. . . . The Mexican people voluntarily 
constitute themselves a democratic, federal, repre- 
sentative Republic, composed of States free and sov- 
ereign in all that concerns their internal government, 
but united in a federation established according to 
the principles of this fundamental law. . . . No cor- 
poration, civil or ecclesiastical, whatever may be its 
character, denomination, or object, shall have legal 
capacity to acquire in proprietorship or administer for 
itself real estate, with the single exception of edifices 
destined immediately and directly to the service and 
object of the institution. ... It belongs exclusively 
to the Federal authorities to exercise, in matters 
of religious worship and external discipline, the inter- 
vention which the law may designate." 

Such were some of the more radical clauses of the 
new Constitution. It abolished slavery ; declared in- 
struction to be free, and that every man was left free 
to adopt whatever useful and honorable profession, 
industrial pursuit or occupation suited him ; that the 
State would not permit any contract to be carried 
out which had for its object the diminution, loss, or 
irrevocable sacrifice of man's liberty, for the sake 
of labor, education, or religious vow. It decreed 
freedom of speech and of the press, without other 
limitations than respect for private life, morality, 
and the public peace ; and secured the right of peti- 
tion, of association, of carrying arms. It suppressed 
titles of nobility, the prerogatives and special privi- 
leges Qfueros) of corporations ; punishment by muti- 
lation, torture, infamy, or confiscation of property. It 
prohibited the acquisition by corporations of property 
for speculative purposes, abolished special tribunals, 



196 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

retroactive laws, private laws, and imprisonment for 
debts of a purely civil character. It consecrated as 
inviolable the home, private correspondence, and the 
right of an accused to legal defence. It abolished 
the death penalty for political offences. It estab- 
lished religious toleration. 

Such a Constitution opposed all the monarchical 
ideas abroad in the land. It positively affronted the 
Church party. It abolished at once all the ecclesias- 
tical and military privileges that had been so long 
enjoyed and so much abused by Conservatives, Cen- 
tralists, and Clericals. It destroyed, as by a blow, the 
domination of the Church, and replaced it with that 
of a Liberal party that in its radicalism was disposed 
to go to an opposite extreme. And the immediate 
result of the new Constitution was likely to be, not 
the bringing of much desired peace to the land, but a 
reaction instigated by the Church. The Church in- 
deed accepted the adoption of the new Constitution as 
a declaration of war, and it proved the bitterest civil 
war Mexico had ever known. 

It was with great difficulty that Comonfort could 
be prevailed upon to support and sign so radical a 
Constitution. Both Church and Army were bitterly 
opposed to it, and did all they could to create a reac- 
tion. Comonfort was a devout religionist ; and being 
in his political faith more confident of the opinions of 
others than of his own, he was especially susceptible 
to outside influences. He early began to show signs 
of wavering in the face of the threats of the Church 
party. His intimate friends in Congress withdrew 
therefrom, and, with members of his own family, 
urged him to suppress at any cost the publication of 
the Constitution, and thus avert the gathering storm. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 197 

His vacillations did much to precipitate the contest 
between the Church and the Liberals, — or, as they 
now became, the Constitutionalists. 

He yielded at last, though with great reluctance, to 
the pressure of the Liberal leaders, and on the night 
of the fifth of February, 1857, the Constitution was 
adopted. The occasion was an ever-memorable one 
in the history of Mexico. Gomez Farias, aged and ill, 
entered the legislative chamber leaning upon the arms 
of his two sons, and took his seat as the presiding 
officer of the Constituent Congress. He was received 
Avith enthusiasm, all the people present rising to their 
feet as he entered. It was with deep emotion that he 
proceeded to take the vote of the members, which 
resulted in the adoption of a Constitution embodying 
principles of government more liberal than the most 
radical opinions he had ever entertained. It is sub- 
stantially the Constitution of Mexico to-day. Any 
official action apart from its provisions since its adop- 
tion has been considered a Grolpe de JEstado — a blow 
to the State. 

The Constitution was to take effect on and after 
the sixteenth of September, the recognized anniversary 
of Mexican Independence. No sooner was it published 
than great excitement prevailed in all parts of the 
country, and wherever the clergy were dominant the 
people were incited to rebellion. An allocution was 
received from Pope Pius IX., declaring the govern- 
ment of Mexico " apocrypha," and putting it under 
the anathema of the Church. The officials of the gov- 
ernment, who were charged with the duty of having 
the Constitution sworn to, met with opposition every- 
where. The clergy protested against it most strenu- 
ously, and exerted all their influence to prevent its 



198 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

being made effective. Their opposition culminated 
in scandals in the churches in Holy Week, and re- 
sulted in the arrest and deportation of the Archbishop. 
He was succeeded in the Archbishopric by the Bishop 
of Michoacan, Dr. Antonio Pelagio de Labastida. 

As the time drew near for the Constitution to go 
into effect, General F^lix Zuloaga proclaimed its 
nullification in a " preliminary pronunciamento," and 
proposed to call a new Congress, to provide " a Con- 
stitution more in harmony with the interests of the 
country," — meaning, of course, the clerical and mili- 
tary interests of the country. He received military 
support from General Miguel Miramon, General Tomas 
Mejia, and other Reactionary leaders in various parts 
of the country, and moral support, either openly or 
otherwise, from some members of the Cabinet. Com- 
bats, with bloodshed, took place in the streets of the 
capital between the Liberals and the Reactionaries, 
and the war was begun. The Reactionaries took up 
their headquarters in the Convent of Santo Domingo. 
The Cabinet of Comonfort took alarm and resigned. 
In the new Cabinet, Benito Juarez took the portfolio 
of Cfobernacion (Domestic Relations), which made 
him practically the premier. 

As soon as the Constitution went into effect, the 
election therein provided for was held. This election 
the Reactionaries could not prevent, although it was 
one purpose of the movement under Zuloaga to do 
so. The result was the choice of Ignacio Comonfort 
for President by a large majority over Miguel Lerdo 
de Tejada. Benito Juarez was elected, by an almost 
unanimous vote, President of the Supreme Court of 
Justice, and became thereby virtual Vice-President. 

Comonfort was installed in the Presidency on the 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 199 

first of December, and took an oath to support the 
Constitution then recently adopted. Almost immedi- 
ately the powerful influence of the Conservatives over 
him became apparent. He had been so courageous and 
straightforward in the beginning of his career, albeit 
so conciUatory and moderate, that much had been ex- 
pected of him, and he had secured the sympathies of 
many who stood for the cause of Liberal principles. 
No one doubts his honesty of purpose ; but he showed 
weakness by ignoring his Cabinet and the Congress 
of the nation, and calling to his aid a " Council of 
Representatives " from each State and from among 
the highest dignitaries of the Church, — a purely 
extraH3onstitutional body. Through them, the united 
action of the clergy and the army, supported as it was 
by many government officials, was too strong for him. 
Under the advice he had sought, and influenced by 
threats of evils to the country which he was anxious 
to avert, he took the step which proved a G-olpe de 
Estado. 

Ten days after he had sworn to support the Consti- 
tution, he gave way to the Clerical party, set aside tiie 
Constitution, and tried to resume government under 
the " Bases of Political Organization " of 1843. His 
plea was that he found the new Constitution imprac- 
ticable. He desired a strong government rather than 
a popular one, and the new Constitution failed to pro- 
vide a government sufficiently strong. To placate the 
Church party, he acceded to their demands and cast 
Juarez into prison. 

His action failed, however, to relieve the situation 
of its difficulties. He lost his friends among the 
Liberals, and the Reactionaries lost faith in him and 
broke faith with him. He tried to correct his mis- 



/ 



200 FROM EMPIRE TO BEPUBLIG 

takes ; but it was too late. He released Juarez, re- 
stored the Constitution, reorganized the National 
Guard, and took steps to suppress the insurrection in 
the capital. But affairs had become sadly demoral- 
ized. It required a strong hand, a steady nerve, and 
a cool head to extricate the government from its 
difficulties ; and it was evident that Comonfort had 
not these qualities. 

F^lix Zuloaga had taken advantage of the situation, 
and, as leader of the Reactionaries and commander of 
an important division of the army, had developed a 
formidable rebellion out of the insurrection of which 
he had previously been the head. He was a trained 
soldier, having served throughout the war with the 
United States. In 1835 Santa Anna made him Presi- 
dent of a " Perpetual Court Martial," and in 1854 sent 
him south in command of a brigade against the Revo- 
lutionists of Ayotla. He was forced to surrender, and 
was saved from being shot by the efforts of Comon- 
fort, who kept him on his staff. He served with the 
Liberals in the siege of Puebla in 1856, and was a 
member of the Constituent Congress at Cuernavaca. 
But, like many professed Liberals in those days, he 
went back to his former affiliation with the Conserva- 
tive and Church party, and was now their military 
champion against Comonfort and the new Constitu- 
tion. He formally "pronounced," with his brigade, 
in Tacubaya, on the seventeenth of December. 

Discouraged in his efforts to bring about a settle- 
ment of the difficulties in which the government was 
now involved, Comonfort, anxious to avoid the hor- 
rors of another war, abandoned the Presidency on the 
twenty-first of January, 1858, and retired from the 
country, leaving the Reactionaries apparently masters 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 201 

of the situation. A Junta of Notables, created by the 
" Plan cle Tacubaya," as the pronunciamento of De- 
cember seventeenth was called, assembled and elected 
Zuloaga Acting-President. He took possession of 
the executive office on the twenty-second of January, 
wholly ignoring the constitutional provision by which 
the President of the Supreme Court of Justice was 
to become President of the Republic upon the death, 
resignation, or disabihty of the President. 

The Reactionaries, even in their apparent triumph, 
were incapable of creating a stable government. There 
was no harmony among them or among their leaders. 
A revolt was organized at a town near the capital bear- 
ing the same name as that in which the "Plan" of 1855 
had been formulated. This was with the evident in- 
tention of confusing the popular mind and committing 
to the new scheme some of the adherents of the " Plan 
de Ayotla," though it took the name of "Plan de 
Navidad " because adopted on Christmas eve (1858). 
It pronounced against further warfare, " which, how- 
ever the tide of victory might run, would be sure to 
result in an irreparable injury to the country." This 
seemed quite plausible, but, — as though there had 
not been enough constitutions prepared for the Mexi- 
can people, and as though their chief characteristic 
was to observe constitutional government, — a call 
was issued for a Convention of Deputies from several 
States to form a new Constitution and elect a Presi- 
dent in the interests of peace. The army in the 
capital supported this "Plan," and General Robles 
Pezuela was elected Provisional President. The 
Convention of Deputies, called together in pursu- 
ance of the "Plan," elected General Miguel Mira- 
mon President and General Pezuela Vice-President, 



202 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

in January, 1859 — actions which portended anything 
but peace. 

Zuloaga took refuge in the British Legation from 
the fury of this " peace pronunciamento." Miramon, 
who Avas absent from the capital at the time, returned 
on the twenty -first of January, declared the deposition 
of Zuloaga illegal, and reinstated him in the Presi- 
dency. Zuloaga, however, as though by a previous 
understanding, resigned, after appointing Miramon 
his substitute and delivering to him the executive 
office, on the second of February. But he seemed 
at times disposed to resume control of the govern- 
ment. He advanced the theory that Miramon, who 
was only his substitute, had exceeded his authority 
in certain cases — notably in negotiating a certain 
loan, of which more will be said hereafter. 

Miramon suddenly appeared at the capital, arrested 
Zuloaga, and forced him to accompany him on his 
campaign — nominally as Chief of Engineers, but 
really as a prisoner. At Leon, the following July, 
Zuloaga escaped from his Presidential jailer, issued a 
manifesto revoking his resignation of the Presidency 
and declaring himself " Constitutional President." He 
found no followers ; but Miramon submitted the ques- 
tion to Jos^ Ignacio Pavon, President of the Supreme 
Court of Justice under the Reactionary government, 
and that distinguished jurist took the opinion of the 
Council of State, and Miramon was declared to be the 
President. That worthy thereupon turned the office 
over to Pavon, who reconvened the Representative 
Junta of January, 1859. In this junta, Miramon 
was elected President by a vote of nineteen to four. 
Zuloaga, tired of this kind of child's play, retired to 
private life. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 203 

Miguel Miramon was in many respects of the same 
type of character as Santa Anna, but with less ability 
and of shorter career. He was a native of Mexico, 
though of French name and ancestry. He was but 
twenty-five years of age, and hence ineligible to the 
Presidency even under the " Bases Organicas," — the 
most ultra of the attempts at a Constitution made 
by the party he represented, — the Constitution under 
which, if under any, he was supposed to be governing. 
He was a dashing soldier, educated at the Govern- 
ment Military Academy, and had served with his 
classmates in the defence of Molino del Rey and 
Chapultepec against the United States army in 1847. 
He was with Haro y Tamaris in Puebla in 1856, 
was made prisoner by the Liberals three times, and 
escaped each time — all within eighteen months. 
He was engaged in guerrilla warfare for the Cler- 
icals until the fight in the streets of Mexico in 
September, 1857. Zuloaga promoted him to the 
command of a brigade, and he became a prominent 
mihtary leader and a political intriguer in the ranks 
of the Reactionaries. 

So much for the attempts of the Reactionaries to 
fill the Presidency after the disaffection and flight of 
Comonfort. They succeeded in holding the capital, 
and in furnishing a succession of what are now termed 
" Anti-Presidents," none of whom could show the 
least colorable title to the executive office. The 
futile efforts of these Reactionaries to govern is the 
best commentary that could be given upon the needs 
in Mexico of the Constitutional Government which 
the Liberals were at this time striving to establish. 



204 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 



CHAPTER XI 

BENITO JUAREZ AND THE WAR OF THE 
REFORM 

THE plan put forth by Zuloaga, in liis pronmi- 
ciamento of December seventeenth, 1857, 
drew off some of the " Moderado " deputies of 
Congress, and these became members of the Junta 
of Notables by whom Zuloaga was elected. He pro- 
ceeded to secure the arrest of the Liberal deputies, 
but seventy of them escaped from the capital and 
made a rendezvous in Queretaro. There they organ- 
ized under the Constitution of 1857, recognized 
Benito Juarez as Constitutional President in succes- 
sion to Comonfort, and had him installed on the tenth 
of January, 1858, several days before the election of 
Zuloaga. From that time to the end of his life, 
Benito Juarez was so closely identified with Constitu- 
tional Government in Mexico that the history of the 
one is the history of the other. 

Benito Juarez was one of the most remarkable men 
who has ever appeared in the history of Spanish 
America. He rose from the humblest origin to the 
greatest eminence attainable in his country, — not 
through the army, as was the case with most of his 
contemporaries, nor by military successes (for he was 
never a soldier), but by industry, perseverance, single- 
ness of purpose, and the force of an indomitable will, 
and through the influence of his personal abilities and 
sterling honesty. 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 205 

He was born in the small but picturesque pueblo 
which at that time bore the name of San Pablo Gue- 
latao, Ijang about forty miles northeast of the city of 
Oaxaca, on the outskirts of Ixtlan, among the rugged 
mountains of that locality, and upon the shores of a 
mountain lake known from the transparency of its 
waters as Laguna Encantada, or the Enchanted Lake. 
The pueblo contained, in the early years of the nine- 
teenth century, about two hundred inhabitants — all 
Zapoteca Indians. The Zapotecas, although of the 
native races which, under the social organization then 
in vogue in Mexico, had scarcely any rights that 
others were bound to respect, had ever been the most 
independent and self-respecting of the aborigines. 
Possibly they were the direct descendants of the 
most civilized of the native races whose architectural 
remains, plentiful in the State of Oaxaca, still baffle 
the inquiry of the scientist. 

It was said of them, in the periods antecedent to 
the advent of the Europeans, that they maintained 
their freedom throughout all the wars waged against 
them, and gained the reputation of being the boldest 
and most vigorous of all the native races. They were 
characterized as a race of virtuous and well-favored 
women, and of strong, well-built, brave, and often 
ferocious, but withal honest, men, with powerful 
frames and rugged looks. And even after the con- 
quest of the land by the Europeans, and the subjec- 
tion of the other races to the power of the white men, 
the honest mountaineers of Oaxaca, — the Zapotecas, 
— maintained a quasi-independence. 

The birthday of Benito Juarez was the twenty -first 
of March, 1806 ; and both his parents were Zapotecas. 
He was baptized when a day old, and received the 



206 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

name of Benito Pablo (Benjamin Paul). The second 
of these names he seems never to have used, and 
within half a century of his birth the simple name of 
Benito Juarez became a household word in Mexico, and 
was known throughout the world in attractive contrast 
with the long names usually borne by the aristocrats 
of Mexico and Spanish- American countries generally. 

The home of Juarez's infancy was a rude adobe 
hut with thatch roof, such as may be seen in great 
numbers throughout the country. No other language 
was spoken in San Pablo Guelatao than the Zapoteca 
dialect, and Benito learned no other before he reached 
his twelfth year. His parents died when he was three 
years of age, and he was for nine years left to the 
care of a grandmother. 

The reputation for honesty and industry acquired 
by the Zapoteca mountaineers stood their children 
in good stead, and made them in demand for house 
servants in the homes of Oaxaca, the capital and 
metropolis of that province. A sister of Benito had 
obtained some domestic service there, and in 1818, 
alone and unassisted, Benito took his journey to that 
city, probably intending to assist her in her labors. He 
was so fortunate as to find a home with a book-binder, 
who was also a member of a minor religious order, — 
the third, or lay order, of the Franciscans. By him, 
Benito was taught to read and write Mexican-Spanish, 
rudimentary mathematics, and the principles of Span- 
ish grammar, without neglecting his religious ^and 
moral training or instruction in good habits. Thus 
the boyhood of Juarez was spent in the midst of 
the scenes of the military exploits of Morelos, whose 
memory was fresh in the minds of all with whom he 
came in contact. 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 207 

After this preliminary education, Juarez was put in 
the Church school in Oaxaca, in October, 1821. The 
Independence of Mexico had just been established, 
and Juarez had reached an age v/hen the subjects 
discussed about him were likely to make a deep and 
lasting impression upon his mind. During these im- 
pressionable years of his youth, while the stirring 
events succeeding the putting forth of the '' Plan de 
Iguala " were in progress, down toward the close of 
Victoria's Presidency, Juarez was pursuing a course 
in Mediaeval Latin, canon law, dogmatic theology, 
and philosophy, — the utmost range of study then 
permitted to a student, education in Mexico being 
still exclusively in the hands of the clergy. Iguala 
was within the hmits of the Province of Oaxaca, and 
its importance in the events of the time were not 
likely to be overlooked by any of the Oaxacans, espe- 
cially by so bright a student as Juarez was already 
proving himself to be. 

In those days, a few Indians were annually per- 
mitted to enter the priesthood, and the door of the 
seminary was open to these. Not only was the career 
of the Church the only one open to talent in Mexico 
in the year when Juarez began his studies, but it was 
the one which his guardian naturally selected for him. 
Consequently, in 1827, Juarez began the study of 
theology, being intended by his guardian for the 
priesthood. But one of the immediate results of the 
Constitution of 1824 was a strong impulse given to 
popular education. The sturdy Oaxacans availed 
themselves of the exceptional opportunities offered 
them, and in 1826 the Legislature of the newly organ- 
ized State of Oaxaca founded an Institute of Arts and 
Sciences, in the City of Oaxaca. Juarez withdrew 



208 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

from his theological studies and matriculated in the 
Institute. Two years later he was appointed Pro- 
fessor of Experimental Physics in the Institute. His 
preference for the law had caused his discontinuance 
of his theological studies upon his attaining his 
majority, and he pursued his legal studies while 
engaged as a professor in the Institute. It required 
seven years of study to fit him for the practice of his 
chosen profession. In the year 1832 he received the 
degree of Bachelor of Laws in the University of Oax- 
aca, which afterwards conferred upon him the degree 
of Doctor of Civil Law, — a rare honor in Mexico, 
with its multiplicity of military titles. He was finally 
admitted to the bar in 1834, being then in his twenty- 
eighth year. 

Already he had entered upon a political career. In 
1831 he was elected Regidor of the City of Oaxaca, 
and filled the position of Judicial Secretary to the 
Municipal Council. The following year he was 
elected a Deputy to the State Legislature. As the 
result of the close attention he gave to public affairs, 
he adopted Liberal ideas, and attached himself at once 
to the Federalist party, which was the popular party 
of Oaxaca. He remained true to that party through- 
out his career, and throughout its transformation into 
the Liberal party of later days. He was ever a stanch 
supporter of the ideas of Gomez Farias. His was a 
political fidelity not usual among the public men in 
Mexico. Few men there have been as consistent as 
Benito Juarez in acting in accordance with avowed 
political principles. 

Ifc was not long before he was brought into close 
contact with national affairs, and made to learn that 
political life in Mexico has its discomforts and may 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 209 

be slow in bringing its rewards. Oaxaca was by no 
means so provincial as to be withdrawn from all in- 
terest in the stirring events of Santa Anna's career of 
intrigue. That State had always maintained such 
sturdy Federalist principles that it was naturally re- 
garded with suspicion by the Centralists ctnd Conser- 
vatives. In 1836, during the disturbed state of affairs 
resulting from the change of the Constitution of 1824 
to the Siete Leyes and the Centralized Constitution, 
Oaxaca, like other States, was deprived, by the new 
order of things, of her sovereignty. Against this she 
protested ; and because of the boldness of her protest, 
Juarez with others suffered imprisonment for several 
months. The allegation was that he was implicated 
in a revolution against the Conservatives, similar to 
that of Texas, and with the same end in view. There 
can be no doubt that Juarez sympathized, as did most 
of the Oaxacans, with the Texans in their assertion 
of the rights of their State, although he regretted 
deeply that the course pursued with them was such 
as to occasion the loss of such valuable territory to 
his country. 

During the next ten years, while Oaxaca was at the 
mercy of the Conservative politicians at the national 
capital, Juarez held the office of Civil and Revenue 
Judge for two years ; acted for a short time as Secre- 
tary of the Governor of the State ; and served as one 
of a triumvirate into whose hands the executive power 
of the State was placed, after the revolution of August, 
1846, had restored to the State her constitutional sov- 
ereignty. These positions demanded the exercise of 
a large amount of tact and political sagacity ; for the 
State of Oaxaca never wholly relinquished her sover- 
eignty, and had to be constantly on her guard to avoid 

14 



210 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

an open breach with the Centralized Autocratic Gov- 
ernment at the capital of the country, and the appear- 
ance of rebellion. That Juarez avoided arrest all these 
years, attests the clear, cool judgment which dictated 
his course. 

Besides his public career, Juarez practised his pro- 
fession, at intervals, with success. In this he was 
associated with a young man named Porfirio Diaz, his 
pupil, the inheritor of his political ideas and the future 
wearer of his mantle. 

In 1846 Juarez made his debut in national politics, 
being that year a Deputy to Congress from his native 
State. He supported the measures of Gomez Farias ; 
and when Congress was dissolved, he retired to 
Oaxaca. He was almost immediately elected Gov- 
ernor of that State, and for five years he administered 
its affairs with economy and prudence. During his 
gubernatorial term he prepared and promulgated a 
civil and criminal code for the State — the first code 
of laws ever published in Mexico. 

On a vague charge of complicity in a revolution in 
Oaxaca, Santa Anna had Juarez arrested in May, 1853. 
He was imprisoned, first in Puebla and then in Jalapa. 
Then, without being permitted to communicate with 
his family, he was again taken to Puebla, whence he 
was removed to Vera Cruz. After an incarceration 
in the dismal dungeon of the prison of San Juan de 
Ulua, he was sent into exile. He went on an Eng- 
lish vessel, first to Havana, and thence to New 
Orleans, where he resided until July, 1855, fuiding 
abundant opportunity, even in the poverty imposed 
upon him by his exile, to study the institutions of 
a successful Republic, and to perfect himself in a 
knowledge of constitutional law and the science of 



THE WAR OF TEE REFORM 211 

government — a knowledge which he deeply felt 
was necessary to the working of a thorough ref- 
ormation in Mexico and bringing to that country 
permanent peace and stability of government. 

News of the " Plan de Ayotla " reached Juarez in 
New Orleans, and he felt that the time had come for 
Mexico to free herself from bad government. Going 
by way of Panama, he arrived in Acapulco in July, 
1855. There he found himself in company with men 
having political viev/s identical with his own. The 
part he took in the preparation of the new Constitu- 
tion and the reform in the government was second to 
that of no one. He remained firm when Comonfort 
wavered. And he now took up the burdens of the 
exalted office of President, under circumstances which 
v/ould have caused another to put them aside. 

Without the means to establish his government in 
the capital, Juarez arrived in Guanajuato on the nine- 
teenth of January, 1858, barely escaping General 
Tomas Mejia, who was in San Juan del Rio with 
Reactionary forces. In Guanajuato he was hospita- 
bly entertained by Manuel Doblado; and there he 
formed his Cabinet, and issued a proclamation declar- 
ing himself Constitutional President. He received 
the recognition of some of the States, and these con- 
tributed forces for the defence of the Constitutional 
Government. 

As a body of Reactionary troops had left the capital 
in pursuit of the Constitutionalists, the latter deemed 
it wise to retire in the direction of Guadalajara. 
The battle of Estanca de las Vacas was fought near 
Celaya, and the " Constitutionalistas," or " Juaris- 
tas " as they began to be called, were defeated by a 
superior force of Reactionaries, and retired to Sala- 



212 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

manca. On the thirteenth of March the battle of 
Salamanca was fought. Again the victory was with 
the Reactionaries. 

Juarez arrived in Guadalajara on the fifteenth of 
February, and established his government in the State 
Executive Palace there. When the news reached him 
of the defeat of his little army at Salamanca, he issued 
a proclamation stating that the Constitutional Gov- 
ernment was determined to resist all attacks made 
upon it. This was intended for the encouragement 
of his followers, who might otherwise take this second 
defeat of his troops as evidence that he had given up 
the struggle for constitutional government. 

It v/as at this juncture that soldiers from the garri- 
son at Guadalajara, having just pronounced in favor 
of the Reactionaries, entered the palace and arrested 
all who were found therein. Not content with this 
high-handed proceeding, the commandant of the 
garrison gave the order to shoot all the prisoners. 
For a moment Juarez stood with muskets levelled at 
him, awaiting the shot that would end the struggle 
for constitutional government and add his name to 
the long list of martyrs for the cause of law and 
order in Mexico. The cool behavior of one of his 
followers caused the soldiers to hesitate. They were 
induced to espouse the cause of the Constitutional- 
ists. The report that Juarez had been captured was 
forwarded to the City of Mexico, and before it could 
be contradicted caused great rejoicing among the 
clericals. 

Juarez was joined in Guadalajara by a few troops, 
and with these he advanced to Colima and Manzanillo. 
But so lamentable was the situation that the Presi- 
dent and his ministers gained among the Mexicans 



THE WAR OF TEE REFORM 213 

(who are fond of bestowing nick-names) the popular 
title of the " Sick Family." On the way, a battle 
was fought at Santa Ana Acatlan. In view of the 
dangers encountered at Acatlan, and in order that his 
own determination to uphold the Constitutional Gov- 
ernment in the face of all opposition and at the risk 
of his life might not involve the safety and happiness 
of his followers, Juarez proposed that his ministers 
might resign if they wished to. But they all declined, 
and renewed their pledges to support him in what 
must have seemed to all but Juarez a forlorn hope. 

Proceeding on his way to Colima, Juarez appointed 
General DegoUado to be Secretary of War and Marine 
and General-in-chief of the army to be raised in de- 
fence of the Constitutional Government. Accom- 
panied by his Cabinet, he proceeded by way of 
Mazatlan and by steamer to Panama. Crossing the 
Isthmus, he took steamer first to Havana, thence to 
New Orleans, and finally to Vera Cruz, where he 
established his government on the fourth of May, 
1858. He was cordially received by the Governor 
of the State, and other Liberals whom he found there. 

The city of Vera Cruz was admirably adapted, 
under the circumstances, to be the seat of the Con- 
stitutional Government. It was the principal port of 
entry in the whole country, by far the greater part of 
the public revenues being derived from the import 
duties at this port, and at Tampico, not far distant 
on the same GuK coast. The city also afforded ad- 
mirable facilities for securing arms and munitions 
from the United States ; and within a year the United 
States (April 9, 1859) recognized President Juarez as 
the legitimate constitutional ruler of Mexico. From 
Vera Cruz the Constitutional President continued the 



214 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

war with the Reactionary party and with the usurpers 
of the Presidential office in the capital of the country. 
In this he conducted himself in such a manner as to 
win the admiration of the world. 

This war is known in history as the " War of the 
Reform." It was the bloodiest of all the civil wars 
ever waged in Mexico, and by reason of the ecclesias- 
tical interests at issue in the struggle it was marked 
with all the bitterness and cruelty of a religious war. 
Certainly the ecclesiastical powers did all within the 
limits of possibility to give it that character; they 
supplied the Reactionaries with resources for the con- 
duct of the war, and encouraged them by the issue of 
inflammatory pastorals which kept the popular mind 
continually stirred up against the Liberal government. 

Miramon won the battle of Carre tas, and went to 
San Luis Potosi. The Reactionary forces attacked 
Zacatecas and killed some of the government officials. 
DegoUado was defeated by Reactionaries under Mi- 
ramon at Atenquique. Santiago Yidaurri (then a 
"Juarista") defeated Miramon at Ahaululco. The 
"Juaristas" met with reverses at Guadalajara and 
Tolototlan. By the capture of Zacatecas (which, how- 
ever, he was unable to hold) General Leonardo Marquez 
attained to eminence as a Reactionary leader, and 
began a career of cruelty scarcely paralleled in the 
history of the nineteenth century. The war proceeded 
with varying fortunes, though for the most part 
disastrously to the " Juaristas," who lost battles and 
leaders, not a few of the latter by desertion to the 
Reactionaries. 

Vidaurri held the northern States for the " Consti- 
tutionalistas " throughout the struggle, and deserted 
the Republic subsequently. To General Porfirio Diaz 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 215 

was assigned the task of the "pacification" of the 
State of Oaxaca, which he accomplished in May, 1860. 
The seat of the war extended, therefore, across the 
central portion of the country, but was concentrated 
upon the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre, between 
the capital and Vera Cruz. 

Encouraged by his successes in the interior, Mira- 
mon attempted, in February, 1859, to capture Vera 
Cruz, the seat of the Constitutional Government. He 
succeeded in investing the city, but found the resist- 
ance so stubborn that he was forced to raise the siege 
the following month. To hide his defeat, he hastened 
to join Marquez in the defence of the capital, then 
threatened by the " Juaristas " under General Degol- 
lado. The two armies engaged in battle at Tacubaya ; 
and, not content with victory, Marquez executed a 
great number of prisoners, and among them six medi- 
cal men who had gone from the capital to care for the 
wounded of the army of the '* Juaristas " — thereby 
gaining for himself the title of " The Tiger of Ta- 
cubaya." The day following the battle, Marquez 
made a triumphal entry into the capital, and was pre- 
sented by the women with a silk sash inscribed 
with the words " To virtue and valor ; a token of the 
gratitude of the daughters of Mexico." Marquez 
was subsequently arrested by the Reactionary chief 
at Guadalajara, for insubordination, and for robbing 
a condncta of six hundred thousand dollars, on its 
way from Mexico to Guadalajara. 

Miramon reorganized his army in three divisions, 
taking the command of one himself and giving the 
command of the other two to General Marquez and 
General Tomas Mejia respectively. Mejia was of 
pure Indian blood, claiming lineal descent from the 



216 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIO 

Aztec war-chiefs. Being a stanch and fanatical ad- 
herent of the Church, he had been in arms against the 
Liberals since 1853, most of the time carrying on a 
guerrilla warfare in the mountain districts. He was 
the soul of honor compared with Marquez, for whom 
no deed of cruelty or robbery was too disgraceful to 
be perpetrated. 

On the fifteenth of November, 1859, Miramon and 
Mejia defeated Degollado at a second battle of Estanca 
de las Vacas. Juarez relieved Degollado of the com- 
mand of the army, and appointed him military governor 
of Zacatecas. He was succeeded in the command of 
the army of the Constitutionalists by General Jesus 
Gonzalez Ortega. 

Early in 1860, Miramon returned to his former 
design of capturing Vera Cruz ; and in March he 
appeared before that city. In preparing to besiege 
the city he sent to Havana, and, with funds furnished 
by the Church, purchased two steam vessels and muni- 
tions of war, to be brought to Vera Cruz and to co- 
operate from the Gulf with his forces on land. The 
approach of the two vessels was disputed by the 
squadron from other nations in the port of Vera 
Cruz, and they were regarded as semi-piratical, being 
unable to show proper ship's papers. Juarez re- 
quested the United States squadron to examine the 
papers of the two vessels ; and in the attempt to 
do so, the United States frigate was fired upon. 
The commander of the frigate at once seized the 
ships and took them to New Orleans for further 
investigation. They were finally released; but the 
delay gained by their detention was valuable to the 
'* Juaristas," and resulted in Miramon's failure in 
his attack upon Vera Cruz. 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 217 

The commander of the British squadron in Vera 
Cruz, acting in the interests of the merchants of the 
city and of tlie foreign residents, offered to mediate 
the cause at issue between the two governments. 
An armistice was arranged, and an assembly of 
prominent Mexican citizens convened to devise some 
plan by which to settle the difficulties between the 
" Juaristas " and the Reactionaries, and to avoid the 
bombardment of the city. The assembly proposed a 
convention from the several States, to form a Consti- 
tution to be submitted to the vote of the people, with 
a provisional government ad interim : that is, a repe- 
tition of the " Plan de Ayotla," but entirely under 
the control of the Reactionaries. 
^ Juarez, who was tired of the repeated proposition 
for a new Constitution from the party that had showed 
no capacity for constitutional government, declared, 
as his ultimatum, that the country already had a Con- 
stitution and a government. What he demanded was 
the calling of a Congress according to the provisions 
of the Constitution of 1857. Miramon accordingly 
broke off negotiations and renewed the siege. From 
mere wantonness, he bombarded the city from the fif- 
teenth to the twentieth of March. Having exhausted 
his ammunition, and finding that sickness was deplet- 
ing his troops, on the twenty-first of March he raised 
the siege and returned to the capital to take his last 
stand against the Constitutionalists. 

It was while these military operations were in prog- 
ress in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, and in the 
very darkest hour of the Constitutional Government, 
that Juarez issued the decree nationalizing and se- 
questrating the property of the Church in Mexico. 
Its ultimate effect was to deprive the Reactionary 



218 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

party of its resources, and thus to break its power. It 
was followed, on the twenty-sixth of July, by the law 
regarding civil maniage ; and still later by the decrees 
of religious toleration and the secularization of the 
cemeteries. These were comprised in the " Laws of the 
Reform " — the basis of the great economic and social 
revolution so necessary to the regeneration of Mexico. 

The apology offered for the first-mentioned of these 
decrees is somewhat analagous to that offered by Com- 
onfort for confiscating the property of the clergy in 
Puebla after quelling an insurrection incited by them. 
The clergy had been the chief supporters of the Span- 
ish party in the wars for the independence of the 
country, and since that time had been the most power- 
ful enemies of progress and of popular government. 
They had promoted the present civil war, with the 
purpose of overthrowing the Constitution which the 
Mexican people had adopted, and of retaining their 
former supremacy in political as well as spiritual af- 
fairs. They furnished the active enemies of consti- 
tutional government with resources enabling them to 
maintain the war. 

The decree was most sweeping in its effects. By 
virtue thereof, the nation was entitled to possess all 
the properties of the clergy, both religious and secu- 
lar, and the Church was denied the right to possess 
real estate ; religious orders and religious communities 
were absolutely and definitively dissolved, as being 
contrary to public welfare ; Church and State were 
absolutely separated, and religious freedom was fully 
and firmly established. The clergy were thenceforth 
to receive such compensation for their services as 
might be voluntarily bestowed by their parishioners, 
instead of a stipend from the State. 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 219 

By the other decrees, marriage was thenceforth to 
be considered in law as a civil contract only, and was 
thus freed from the restraints and expenses previ- 
ously imposed upon it by the clergy, which had 
tended to the corruption of morals throughout the 
country and had been the means of sustaining among 
the poor a system of peonage beyond the power of 
the laws abolisliing slavery to efface. 

These decrees were intended to correct many abuses 
which existed in the country, and they were a part of 
that programme of Reform which Juarez had set out to 
accomplish. As such, they were issued in good faith, 
although at the time they may have seemed intended 
merely to cripple the resources of the enemy and in- 
spire the friends of the Constitutional Government 
with fresh courage. It was several years before they 
could be engrafted upon the organic law of the land ; 
but their direct result was to secure reinforcements 
for the " Juaristas," and to turn the tide of popular 
favor in the direction of the Constitutional Govern- 
ment. For the " Constitutionalistas " were thereby 
proving themselves honest and consistent. No previ- 
ous effort at reform had ever been adhered to in the 
face of obstacles as this had been. One-half the diffi- 
culties experienced by Juarez and his adherents would 
have been deemed, at any time in the previous history 
of Mexico, ample excuse for suspending any eifort to 
secure popular government, or for throwing over any 
Constitution. Juarez was honest. He meant what 
he said, and was determined to do all he promised ; 
and the Vera Cruz decrees inspired the people with 
confidence in him. Though the Reactionaries seemed 
at that tune to hold the balance of power, and to be 
able to prevent the enforcement of the decrees, yet 



220 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

they were inspired with dread of the man who could 
so coolly proceed with the performance of his duty 
under such trying circumstances as those which they 
had created. 

The position of the Reactionaries was, in fact, 
becoming critical. They were in possession of the 
capital, of Puebla, and of Guadalajara. But they 
were themselves split up into contentious factions. 
The people were beginning to take cognizance of the 
cruelties and robberies that marked their conduct of 
affairs. It was not long before General Ortega was 
able to capture Guadalajara, reorganize his army, and 
march toward the City of Mexico. Miramon made an 
unsuccessful attempt to recapture Guadalajara, and 
won an unimportant victory in the south of Jalisco. 
In August, 1860, the army of the " Juaristas " under 
Ortega defeated the Reactionaries under Miramon, at 
Silao ; and by the tenth of November, Ortega was able 
to surround the capital. So assured was he of the 
final success of his plan, that he addressed a circular 
lettei' to the representatives of the foreign govern- 
ments in the capital, making known his determination 
to occupy the city and to allow no reclamations under 
any pretext whatever for supplies furnished or for 
loans made to the Reactionaries. 

Miramon gained a partial victory at San Bartolo, on 
the first of December ; and on the sixth he surprised 
and captured Toluca, taking many prisoners, Gomez 
Farias and Degollado among them. These reverses 
did not, however, retard the preparations of the 
'' Juaristas " for the final decisive conflict. Ortega 
directed his march toward the east, that he might be 
between Vera Cruz and the capital. General Ignacio 
Zaragoza was brought from the defence of Guadala- 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 221 

jara, to assist the " Juaristas " in the vicinity of the 
capital. On the twenty-second of December the 
" Juaristas " (an army of eleven thousand men under 
General Ortega) and the Reactionaries (eight thou- 
sand men under Miramon) faced each other at Cal- 
pulalpam for the decisive battle of the War of the 
Reform. The battle raged for two days, and the 
"Juaristas" were completely victorious. Miramon fled 
to the capital, where he and Zuloaga divided the 
Reactionary treasury between them. Miramon then 
went into exile. Zuloaga, Marquez, and other Re- 
actionary leaders, retired to the mountain districts, 
where they continued to raise partisans to oppose the 
Liberal government. 

The troops of the " Juaristas," under General Ortega, 
entered the capital on the twenty-seventh of Decem- 
ber, and the decree of sequestration issued from Vera 
Cruz was speedily put into operation. In the spolia- 
tion of the Church which followed, it was due to the 
forethought of Ignacio Ramirez, a famous publicist 
whom Juarez appointed Minister of Instruction and 
Public Works, that the valuable paintings previously 
existing in the monasteries, went to enrich the galleries 
of the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts ; and that the 
Bihlioteea Naeional was founded in the San Augustin 
Monastery, and was made the permanent depository 
of the books derived from the religious houses. 

The defeated and scattered Reactionaries continued 
a guerrilla warfare, and sought by acts of wanton 
cruelty to wreak their vengeance upon the victorious 
Constitutionahsts, or the party of the Reform, as they 
came now to be called. In February, 1861, Mariano 
Escobedo, who had risen from an humble position to 
the rank of Brigadier-General, and had been present 



222 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

in the latter capacity with the forces of the " Juaristas " 
at the battle of Calpulalpam, was sent to check the 
depredations of Marquez and Mejia. He was sur- 
prised and taken prisoner at Rio Verde, and Marquez 
issued an order to have him shot. His life was spared 
at the intercession of Mejia, and he subsequently es- 
caped from imprisonment. 

In April, Marquez, encouraged by the hope that 
the European nations would intervene in the affairs 
of Mexico in aid of the Reactionaries, marched upon 
Tulancingo, but was defeated in an attempt upon 
Queretaro. Joining Zuloaga, however, he occupied 
Villa del Carbon the following month. The Re- 
actionaries now selected Melchor Ocampo as the 
especial object of their hatred, and encouraged the 
guerrilla bands which infested the country to capture 
him. This remarkable man was probably, next to 
Juarez, the most prominent of the Reform leaders. 
He was born in the city of Valladolid, in 1815, — the 
year when another great native of that city (in whose 
honor its name was changed to Moreha) was exe- 
cuted. He was a man of education, and a graduate 
in law ; but after a few years of practice in that pro- 
fession, he gave himself up to the study of botany, 
chemistry, and scientific agriculture, and acquired a 
reputation in those subjects abroad as well as at 
home. He served as Deputy in Congress in 1843 and 
in 1846, and was then unanimously elected Governor 
of Michoacan. During his term of office he- made 
many public improvements, and established the college 
of San Nicolas Obispo and had it placed under State 
and not under ecclesiastical control. He resigned the 
Governorship in 1846, and retired to his country-seat, 
which he had named *' Pomoca," being an anagram of 
his name. 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 223 

He was reelected Governor, in June, 1852, but 
resigned again in January, 1855. The Legislature, 
in accepting his resignation, passed a unanimous vote 
of thanks for his eminent services to the State. He 
was among those arrested by Santa Anna upon the 
latter's assuming the Dictatorship in 1855, and was 
imprisoned in San Juan de Ulua awaiting a vessel to 
take him into exile. The " Plan de Ayotla " secured 
his release from prison, and he was for about eight 
weeks chief of the cabinet of President Alvarez. He 
resigned because of his lack of sympathy with Comon- 
fort's policy of compromise. As a member of the 
Constituent Congress, he was active and influential. 
He was a member of Juarez's cabinet in Guadalajara. 

A guerrilla band, under the leadership of a noted 
desperado named Cajiga, went to Pomoca for the pur- 
pose of capturing Ocampo. Meeting a visitor and 
mistaking him for the man they sought, they arrested 
him. The prisoner, desiring to protect his friend, re- 
fused to disclose his identity, and would have suffered 
in the place of Ocampo had not the latter appeared 
and promptly told who he was. 

Ocampo was taken before Marquez, and by his 
orders was shot at Tepeji del Rio, on the road to 
Morelia, and his body was hanged on a tree. It was 
afterwards taken to the City of Mexico, and lay in 
state in the Chamber of Congress until entombed in 
the Panteon de San Fernando. The tomb of this 
noble patriot and progressionist bears the inscription, 
" Sacrijicado por la TiraniaP 

The people in the neighborhood of Pomoca were 
infuriated by this crime of the Reactionaries, and 
threatened to sweep them out of existence. A feel- 
ing of intense indignation swept over the land. Con- 



224 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

gress offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for the 
heads of Marquez, Mejia, Cajiga, and other guerrilla 
chiefs who had been connected with the crime of 
Ocampo's murder. Though inexcusable in the eyes 
of the Liberals of the present day, this action of 
Congress seemed justifiable then because the City 
of Mexico was menaced by a reign of t^error, and 
the people were not to be appeased by less drastic 
measures. 

Santos Degollado, then recently elected a member 
of Congress, and having been guilty of a certain mal- 
feasance in office for which he wished to atone, asked 
the permission of Congress to take command of the 
forces sent out to suppress the Reactionary leaders. 
He was to be convoyed by General Tomas O'Horan, 
but was impatient of that officer's delay, and left the 
capital with only one hundred and fifty men. In the 
dense woods of Monte de las Cruces he fell into an 
ambush prepared by some bandit leaders. A desper- 
ate fight ensued. Degollado was taken prisoner, and 
was assassinated without regard to his rights as a 
prisoner of war. It was then discovered that the 
reason why General O'Horan had not accompanied 
Degollado was that he had deserted to the Reaction- 
aries. The following June, General Leandro Yalle, 
a young man of excellent character, was sent against 
Marquez. He was defeated, and, by the orders of 
O'Horan, was shot and his body hanged. The list 
of " Sacrificados por la Tirania " was being ex- 
tended. 

Such was the disturbed state of the country after 
the War of the Reform. A great war, — the first real 
war for a principle in the history of Mexico, — had 
been fought to a finish, and the victory was for Con- 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 225 

stitutional Government over the rule of the Church 
and the army or that of an oligarchy. But Juarez was 
anxious that the principles involved in the war should 
be fully and firmly established and decided, not by 
force of arms, but by the voice of the people. He 
was occupying the Presidency, as he felt, by a series 
of accidents. So he called for an election for Presi- 
dent in accordance with the Constitution of 1857, 
knowing full well that the result of the election 
would be either for or against the decrees he had put 
forth in Vera Cruz in 1859. These decrees furnished 
the platform upon which he stood before the people 
asking their suffrages. There was no uncertain sound 
about the announcement of the principles for which 
he stood. In no instance does Benito Juarez stand 
out more heroically than in this act. 

The proclamation for the election was made while 
Juarez was still in Vera Cruz. Miguel Lerdo de 
Tejada offered himself as a candidate, but died in 
March, 1861, before the election could be held. This 
was much to the regret of Juarez, who looked upon 
him, not as a rival for political preferment, but as an 
earnest supporter of his own schemes for good gov- 
ernment. The only other candidate was General 
Ortega. The election resulted in a large majority 
for Juarez, and General Ortega was elected President 
of the Supreme Court of Justice, thereby becoming 
virtual Vice-President. When Congress met, in May, 
1861, the result of the election was formally declared, 
and Juarez was promptly installed, on the first of 
June, as Constitutional President of Mexico. 

The tasks which lay before the Constitutional party 
were stupendous. The condition of Mexico was piti- 
able. The country was literally exhausted by suc- 

15 



226 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

cessive revolutions. Nearly two hundred thousand 
Mexicans had been engaged in the war of the past 
three years, and the loss of life had been frightful. 
The public achninistration of the law had been de- 
stroyed; robbery and murder had been practically 
legalized, and were the order of the day. The clergy 
had been stirring up strife in families by means of the 
confessional, the pulpit, and the power of excommuni- 
cation, and by withholding absolution and the right of 
Christian burial from all who professed Liberal ideas. 
They had threatened with present excommunication 
and eternal malediction all who took possession of the 
property of the Church under the Eeform decrees. 

Juarez lacked the means to reorganize the Govern- 
ment at once. Of the chiefs of the Reform party, the 
greater number had but slight knowledge of military 
science. The old soldiers of the Republic had, with 
few exceptions, turned to the Reactionaries. There 
was the same difficulty in finding men of ability and 
training to serve the State in a civil capacity. The 
President was compelled, under the circumstances, 
to expend a large part of his energies and to waste 
his ineans in negative activity and in guarding against 
impending evils and checking present dangers. He 
was unable to devise measures for the immediate 
amelioration of the condition of the country, espe- 
cially as the country was not educated up to the level 
of constitutional government. 

His first measures, after entering Mexico, - were 
severely criticised as indicating a change of temper. 
Most of the Bishops were banished, and with them 
were sent the Papal Nuncio and the Spanish Envoy, 
because they had misused their positions and done all 
in their power to aid the Reactionaries to drag out 



THE WAR OF THE REFORM 227 

the civil war. The small property left to the Church 
was entirely taken from its hands, and the estates of 
the clerical communities were let out to farmers on 
the payment of tAvelve per cent of their values. 
Civil marriage was introduced. The opponents of 
the President, offended at these measures, gave ex- 
pression to their want of confidence, in an address 
asking him to resign (September 7, 1861). It was 
signed by fifty-one of the Deputies. The same 
day, Juarez received a petition from fifty-two of the 
Deputies, urging him to retain his office. 

Those who complained that the government of 
Juarez was unable instantly to restore order to the 
land, or that it lacked energy and spirit, and a sincere 
desire to deal fairly with its foreign claimants, evi- 
dently failed to take all of the circumstances into 
consideration, — circumstances extending back for 
years in the history of the country. Those persons 
were the more just who, allowing that much was to 
be said in favor of the government of Juarez, thus 
expressed themselves, in May, 1861 ; " However 
faulty and weak the present government may be, 
those who witnessed the murders, the acts of atroc- 
ity, and plunder, almost of daily occurrence under 
the government of General Miramon and General 
Marquez, cannot but appreciate the existence of law 
and order. Foreigners especially, who suffered so 
heavily under that arbitrary rule and by the hatred 
and intolerance toward them which are a dogma of 
the Church party in Mexico, cannot but make a broad 
distinction between the past and the present. . . . 
The Mexican Government has been accused, and not 
without reason, of having frittered away the Church 
property recently nationalized ; but it must be remem- 



228 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

bered that while forced contributions, plunder, and 
immense supplies from the Church and its support- 
ers, have enabled General Zuloaga and General 
Miramon to sustain the civil war for three years, the 
Constitutional Government had abstained from such 
acts, and has the sole robbery of the condueta at Lagos, 
towards the close of the war, to answer for." And 
again, in June : " Progress has been made. The 
signs of regeneration, though few, are still visible. 
Had the present Liberal party enough money at com- 
mand to pay an army of ten thousand men, it could 
suppress the present opposition, restore order, and 
preserve external peace." The government of Juarez 
was indeed answering for its one act of plunder dur- 
ing the recent war — the robbery of a condueta near 
Lagos. This was the act of Degollado, without the 
knowledge or consent of Juarez, who did all he could 
to repair the damage done by this act of insubordina- 
tion, — not only to the owners of the condueta^ but 
also to the reputation of his government. 

Taken all together, the Juarez government, whatever 
its defects, was seen by the foreign powers who chose 
to examine it dispassionately, even at the time when 
it appeared least to an advantage, to be the only 
promising government that had made its appearance 
for years in Mexico ; the only one which was likely 
to be actuated by liberal and constitutional principles. 
It had succeeded in overthrowing one of the most 
despicable, disgraceful, and sanguinary systeitis that 
ever debased and exhausted a country. 

The British Consul and Qharg4 d'affaires wrote, in 
May, 1861, of the President himself: "President 
Juarez is an upright and well-intentioned man, ex- 
cellent in all the private relations of life; but the 



THE WAE OF THE REFORM 229 

mere fact of his being an Indian exposes him to the 
hostility and sneers of the dregs of Spanish society, 
and of those of mixed blood who ludicrously arrogate 
to themselves the higher social position in Mexico." 
And Mr. Charles Wyke wrote : " The Church party, 
though beaten, is not subdued, and several of their 
chiefs are within six leagues of the capital with forces 
varying from four to six thousand. The religious 
feeling of a fanatic population has naturally been 
shocked by the destruction of churches, and the dis- 
banded monks and friars wandering about amongst 
the people fan the embers of discontent kept alive by 
the women, who are as a body in favor of the Church 
party." 

The combined forces of Marquez were defeated by 
Ortega in August, 1861. Zuloaga, Marquez, and 
Mejia ceased to menace the capital, and fled to the 
mountains back of Queretaro. Marquez was finally 
defeated in Pachuca in October. 

In July, 1861, Congress approved of the decree 
issued by the President, suspending for two years all 
payments on account of foreign debts. This was in- 
tended to gain time for the government of Juarez to 
straighten out the finances of the country, which were 
in a deplorable condition. Its best analogy might 
perhaps be found in the business house which has 
justifiable confidence in the business in which it is 
engaged, though it finds itself crippled for the time 
being by reason of recent misfortunes, but which, 
instead of going into bankruptcy or making an 
assignment for the benefit of its creditors, asks for 
an extension of time on its obligations. 

There was special reason why the Mexican govern- 
ment should ask for such extension. The Juarez 



230 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

administration found itself confronted by claims origi- 
nating with the pseudo-government which had just 
been put down — some of them of very questionable 
character. The " Mon- Almonte Treaty " was of that 
nature. Through the Spanish Minister and General 
Almonte, the Miramon administration had arranged 
that Mexico should assume the demands of Spanish 
subjects for reclamations, outrages, and compulsory 
loans agreed to in 1855 under the Santa Anna govern- 
ment, in consideration of assistance to be rendered the 
Reactionary government in the nature of a European 
protectorate over Mexico. This treaty was in itself 
sufficient justification to Juarez for sending the Span- 
ish Minister out of Mexico, as a person unacceptable 
to the Government. 

Already English and French squadrons had ap- 
peared off Vera Cruz, demanding the payment of so 
much of the national debt of Mexico as was due the 
citizens of those countries for indemnity for outrages ; 
and the Spanish residents of Tampico had made com- 
plaint to their government of outrages received at the 
hands of the contending Mexican factions, and of the 
losses they had sustained by reason of forced loans. 
A Spanish vessel appeared at Vera Cruz, and de- 
manded satisfaction and guarantees. To these, Juarez 
gave satisfaction only by diplomatic promises. It re- 
quired time to look into these claims and determine 
precisely what ones were valid and what were fraudu- 
lent — what ones the government would assume as in 
honor bound, and what ones would be paid only as a 
matter of generosity to the claimants. 

Nevertheless, the measure suspending payment 
served to precipitate the action of the European 
powers, which had apparently been in contemplation 



THE WAR OF TEE REFORM 231 

for some time. The English and French nations im- 
mediately broke off diplomatic relations with Mexico ; 
and, to delay still longer the enforcement of constitu- 
tional government, there ensued the Foreign Inter- 
vention resulting in the French Invasion and the 
Second Mexican Empire. 



232 FROM EMPIRE TO BEPUBLIG 



CHAPTER XII 

FOREIGN INTERVENTION, FRENCH INVASION, 
AND THE SECOND EMPIRE 

ON the thirty-first of October, 1861, a treaty- 
was signed in the city of London, on be- 
half of England, France, and Spain, which 
proved the beginning of what was at first known as 
the Foreign Intervention in the affairs of Mexico. 
Later it was transformed in its character, so as to be 
more properly known as a French Invasion of the 
territory ; and from it was developed, as it was un- 
doubtedly intended should be from the outset, the 
Second Mexican Empire. 

By the terms of the treaty, — known as the Treaty 
of London, — ^the three nations that were parties to it 
were to send a sufficient naval and military force to 
Mexico to seize and occupy the several fortresses and 
military positions on the coast, for the purpose of 
sequestrating the customs revenues of the principal 
ports of entry ; the treaty providing for the appoint- 
ment of a commission to determine the just distribu- 
tion of these revenues among the foreign creditors of 
Mexico. It was expressly stipulated that no territory 
should be appropriated by the Foreign Powers, nor 
should any influence be exerted to interfere with the 
rights of the Mexican people to arrange their own 
form of government. 

It was deemed expedient that the government at 
Washington should be invited to acquiesce in the 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 233 

terms of this treaty. The treaty was, however, to 
be ratified within fifteen days by the respective gov- 
ernments concerned, and its provisions were to be 
carried into effect without waiting for an answer from 
the United States. That answer, when it came, was 
a positive declination by the United States to take 
any part in the transaction, on the ground that the 
Federal Government at Washington thought it right 
to pursue its usual policy of refraining from alliances 
with foreign powers. 

The purpose of this extraordinary proceeding on 
the part of the three powerful European nations was, 
as stated in the preamble of the treaty, to demand 
more effective protection for the persons and property 
of their subjects in Mexico, and to secure the fulfil- 
ment of certain obligations contracted by the Mexican 
Government. But when this diplomatically worded 
treaty comes to be examined in the light of contem- 
poraneous documents and subsequent events, it is 
found to conceal purposes of greater importance than 
any it expressed. 

Upon the earliest suggestion of the advisability of 
pursuing the course prescribed by the treaty, the 
English Minister of Foreign Affairs asserted that 
England was opposed on principle to forcible inter- 
ference in the internal affairs of independent nations. 
In every despatch addressed by England to either 
Paris, Madrid, or Washington, it was declared over 
and over again that England would have nothing to 
do with the proposed expedition if it were not clearly 
laid down in the beginning that the expedition was 
not to interfere with the internal affairs of Mexico. 

Subsequently it was sought to discover that Mexico 
furnished an exception to the general rule under 



234 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

which England claimed to be acting. Few cases of 
internal anarchy, bloodshed, and murder exceeded, 
according to the English idea, the atrocities perpe- 
trated in Mexico. One instance alone of the many 
that were cited in this apology was held to be suffi- 
cient to place Mexico beyond the operations of the 
law of nations. That was the robbery of the English 
bondholders by Marquez, acting under Miramon's 
orders, on the seventeenth of November, 1860. Coin 
to the amount of about six hundred and sixty thou- 
sand dollars had been collected by Juarez, for the 
payment of certain English bondholders. The money 
was deposited, for safe keeping, at the British lega- 
tion, and was supposed to be further secured by the 
seal of the British Minister. The robbery of it was 
indeed a gross violation of the law of nations, as well 
as of common morality; but it was a crime for which 
the Constitutional Government of Mexico was not 
responsible, having been powerless to prevent it. 

It seemed to have been generally overlooked that, 
with scarcely an exception, the wrongs, to redress 
which the intervention was to take place, were com- 
mitted by the pseudo-government, and not by the true 
government then existing. Some of the outrages for 
which reparation was sought were perpetrated by 
Marquez and his followers while Juarez and Ortega 
were trying to capture them. This might not furnish 
a claim for remission, though it ought certainly to 
have furnished a plea for indulgence. 

England felt, however, that it was no longer pos- 
sible to deal with Mexico as with an organized and 
established government. It was asserted, on behalf 
of the English Government, that the mere presence 
of a combined squadron in the Gulf of Mexico would 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 235 

serve as a wholesome menace, — ■ would urge the 
Mexican Government to keep the peace, and con- 
vince malcontents that they must seek " some form 
of opposition more constitutional than brigandage." 
England's position from the first was apologetic, and 
was based upon a total misapprehension of the char- 
acter of Benito Juarez, and of his efforts, and the 
efforts of his followers, to establish constitutional 
government. That position was never approved by 
the mass of the English people, and, as has been said, 
"nothing in the Mexican expedition so became the 
British Government as the giving of it up." 

Spain and France, on the other hand, had objects 
in view which were not expressed in the treaty and 
were not at once disclosed to the public. The hope 
of Spain was to found an Empire in Mexico, and to 
place upon the throne thereof a member of the same 
Borbon family that had been called to the throne 
created by the Treaty of Cordoba in 1821. Events 
interfered to prevent this scheme from taking definite 
shape, although it transpired that it was with this 
purpose in view that Spain had been furnishing secret 
but strong aid to the Zuloaga and Miramon govern- 
ment in Mexico. The object of France was also to 
establish a monarchy, but it was to be in some way 
feudatory to France. The Emperor of the French 
had already offered the crown of the Mexican Empire, 
which he had in view, to the Archduke of Austria. 
Yet both Spain and France were all the while assur- 
ing England that neither of them had any intention 
of forcible interference in Mexican affairs. England, 
however, was suspicious of Spain, and would not have 
entered the convention at all, or have signed the 
treaty, but for the positive assurances of both Spain 



236 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

and France that there was no intention whatever of 
conquest, of reestablishing by foreign influence a 
monarchical form of government, or of otherwise 
meddling with the internal administration of the 
Government of Mexico. It was the scheme of France 
that was shortly afterwards developed to the serious 
inconvenience of Mexico. 

Ostensibly, it was the purpose of the three nations 
to act as receivers of the property of their hopelessly 
bankrupt debtor, and to administer the estate for the 
payment of its debts. Of these debts, that of Eng- 
land was the largest and of the longest standing. It 
was based upon an alleged loan of three million two 
hundred thousand pounds, contracted by the agent of 
the Mexican Government with a London banking- 
house in the first year of the Republic. It amounted, 
at the time of the Treaty of London, to nearly eighty 
million dollars in Mexican money. To Spain, Mexico 
Avas alleged to owe a little more than fifteen million 
dollars, and to France about two million five hundred 
thousand dollars, in Mexican money. 

Each of these debts had a history so interesting 
that Mexican historians devote whole chapters to the 
subject, and some of them make it appear that of the 
sum upon which the enormous claim of England was 
based, only about a third had been actually received 
by Mexico, and that the sum actually due at the time 
of the treaty was seventy millions instead of eighty 
million dollars; that the debt to Spain grew 'out of 
indemnities incurred during the War for Independ- 
ence, and amounted to a little less than ten millions 
instead of fifteen million dollars ; while the debt to 
France included a most remarkable claim of the 
Swiss banking-house of Jecker and Company, for 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 237 

one million dollars and interest thereon at the rate 
of twelve per cent per annum from its date. 

It was alleged by Mexico, and scarcely denied by 
the other party to the transaction, that less than half 
the money for which Jecker and Company had re- 
ceived bonds to the above amount had been paid by 
them to the Zuloaga and Miramon government at a 
time when the Liberal government was in existence 
and was contending against the self -constituted dic- 
tatorship of Zuloaga and Miramon. So that at the 
very time when France had acknowledged Miramon 
as President, and had aided his pretensions against the 
Constitutional Government, she was holding Juarez 
and the Constitutional Government responsible for 
the debts of the insurgents. Jecker, the head of the 
banking-house, had in some way become a French 
subject since this debt was contracted, and thus his 
exorbitant demands were included in the claim of 
France, and were made to play an important part in 
the plans of the Emperor of the French for the estab- 
lishment of a monarchy in Mexico. 

It is but just to say that the Mexican Expedition 
never obtained the slightest degree of popularity in 
France. It was looked upon with coldness, indiffer- 
ence, dislike, and contempt, by the people ; and it was 
ably combated, in the Corps Legislatif in 1863, by 
leading Deputies, who were returned by overwhelm- 
ing majorities in the subsequent election, thus show- 
ing that their constituents fully approved of their 
position. 

But whether just or unjust, whether extortionate 
or legal, these debts were made the basis of opera- 
tions under the Treaty of London. There were also 
allegations of attacks made from time to time on the 



238 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

persons and property of foreigners in Mexico, which 
had been the subject of much diplomatic correspond- 
ence for several years without prospect of satisfactory 
adjustment. Spain's chief injury was the failure of 
the Mon- Almonte Treaty. 

Forty years of almost incessant civil war had 
wrought utter confusion to the finances of Mexico, 
as well as to her social conditions. Her government 
was entirely at the mercy of people of revolutionary 
spirit. It had not served to render affairs less com- 
plicated, that during the three years then past there 
had been two opposing governments in the country 
with which to treat, neither being responsible for the 
acts or promises of the other. It was therefore, 
viewed from the standpoint of the foreign powers, 
time for something to be done to obtain the payment 
of Mexico's obligations and to secure to foreigners in 
that country immunity from outrage. 

The treaty was doubtless precipitated by the decree 
of the Mexican Government suspending the payment 
of foreign debts for two years. England and France, 
as we have seen, at once broke off diplomatic relations 
with Mexico until the decree of suspension should be 
revoked. The Spanish Minister had already been 
given his passports as a persona non grata^ because of 
his too intimate connection with the Zuloaga-Miramon 
government, and of his part in the Mon-Almonte 
Treaty. 

It is not to be overlooked that an opportunity for 
pursuing such a course as was now determined upon 
by France was afforded at that time by the Civil War 
then in progress in the United States. The foreign 
powers regarded that war between the States as likely 
to result in the independence of the Confederate 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 239 

States of the South. Such an opportunity as this 
afforded was especially appreciated by Louis Napo- 
leon, Emperor of the French, who had long cherished 
dreams of establishing an Empire in Mexico, to be 
to some extent under his control. With the United 
States (as he supposed) likely to be divided, and with 
the Confederate States, when independent, as his 
allies, he need have no fear of any trouble with 
the Government at Washington over "the Monroe 
Doctrine." 

Notwithstanding the stipulation in the Treaty of 
London that the allied forces should not seek any 
acquisition of territory, or exercise any influence 
over the internal affairs of the country prejudicial to 
the rights of the Mexicans to establish such form 
of government as they might desire, the Emperor of 
the French was laying plans to accomplish both the 
acquisition of territory and the interference in the 
political affairs of the country. He was already 
negotiating with certain persons, looking to the 
future disposition of the Mexican State of Sonora 
and adjacent territory ; and he had been in consulta- 
tion with General Almonte, General Miramon, Josd 
Maria Gutierrez de Estrada, Francisco J. Miranda 
("Padre Miranda," a turbulent Mexican cleric), 
Haro y Tamaris, and other banished Reactionary 
leaders. It was largely upon such ex parte testimony 
as these men were able to furnish as to the status of 
Mexican affairs, that he had laid his plans for the 
establishment of a trans -Atlantic Empire. How fully 
he had absorbed this scheme may be judged by his 
remark, after the complete overthrow of the Mexican 
Empire was regarded by every one else as merely a 
question of a few months, that he looked upon it 



240 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

as the greatest creation of his reign. Subsequent 
events, however, proved it the beginning of his over- 
throw — the Moscow of the Second French Empire 
of the Napoleons. 

The allied nations proceeded without loss of time 
to send forces to occupy the coast cities of Mexico, 
as provided in the treaty; and early in December, 
1861, the Spanish squadron arrived, in advance of 
the others, at Vera Cruz. A week later, the city was 
occupied by the Spanish troops. This was regarded 
as not in accord with the agreement, and was made 
the pretext, on the part of France, for sending out 
reinforcements to the number of four or five thousand 
men. Here again was an occasion for the French 
Minister to protest that it was not the intention of 
France to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico. 
An assurance to that effect was again asked, and was 
earnestly given. 

The French and English forces arrived on the 
eighth of January, 1862, and the whole foreign army 
was placed under the command of the Spanish Mar- 
shal Prim, Count of Reus, who was Commander-in- 
chief of the Expedition and Plenipotentiary of Spain. 
This army then consisted of about six thousand Span- 
ish soldiers; twenty-five hundred French soldiers, 
under Admiral Jurien de la Graviere ; and one line- 
of-battle ship, two small frigates, and seven hundred 
English marines, under Commodore Dunlop. The 
Count de Saligny and the Admiral Jurien de la 
Graviere were the diplomatic agents of France; and 
England was to be represented by Sir Charles Wyke. 

Through its minister in France, the Mexican Gov- 
ernment had been stdvised that France and England 
were taking measures to compel Mexico to accede to 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 241 

their demands, and that Spain was intending to join 
them, with the hope of establishing a monarchy in 
that country. A man of less character than Benito 
Juarez would have been appalled by such news, fol- 
lowing closely upon three years of civil war that had 
sapped the resources of his government. But Juarez 
was of tougher fibre than others of his countrymen. 
He rose to the occasion, and took immediate steps to 
encounter these new difficulties in the way of estab- 
lishing constitutional government. He appealed to 
Mexicans to lay aside their private feuds and unite 
against the common foe. He reorganized his army, 
and made efforts to defend the country. He raised 
money by forced loans or voluntary contributions, 
negotiated upon terms the most unfavorable to the 
government, as is usual in such cases. If he showed 
an arbitrary spirit in these measures, it was no more 
than the emergenc}' seemed to demand, nor was it 
contrary to precedents established by the previous 
rulers of his nation. It must also be remembered 
that all he did had in view the final establishment of 
a Constitutional Government which was to do away 
forever with the necessity of applying such arbitrary 
measures again. 

On the twenty-fifth of January, 1862, Juarez issued 
a decree declaring that all men between the ages of 
sixteen and sixty who refused to take up arms in 
defence of the country should be regarded as traitors; 
establishing courts-martial in the place of the ordi- 
nary tribunals ; and giving authority to the governors 
of States and magistrates of towns to dispose of the 
persons or property of all disloyal persons within 
their jurisdictions. It declared any armed invasion 
of the country by Mexicans or foreigners without a 

16 



242 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

previous declaration of war, and any invitation offered 
by Mexicans or foreign residents of Mexico for such 
invasion, to be crimes against the Independence of 
Mexico, punishable with death. 

This stern decree was issued, it must be remem- 
bered, in times that demanded drastic measures, and 
for the governance of a people of revolutionary tend- 
encies who were yet unprepared for constitutional 
government. A Reactionary leader, General Robles, 
made an effort to join a party in the French camp 
soon afterward, but was arrested by the Mexican 
authorities, banished from the capital, and confined 
on parole in a small town. He violated his parole, 
and escaped from his imprisonment. Before he 
could reach other plotters against the government of 
Juarez, he was again arrested, and under the decree 
of January twenty-fifth was sentenced to be shot. 
General Prim and the English Plenipotentiary made 
an effort to save him, and succeeded in inducing the 
Mexican Minister to suspend the sentence of death; 
but the courier bearing the reprieve lost his way, and 
arrived at the place appointed for the execution 
after the sentence had been carried out. 

Juarez was anxious to postpone as long as possible, 
and to avoid altogether, if might be, a collision with 
the foreign troops. He accordingly invited the en- 
voys of the allied powers to a conference, to be held 
at Orizaba, in April, 1862. To arrange for this 
conference, a preliminary convention was held at 
Soledad, near Vera Cruz, in February. The Mexi- 
can Government was represented on this occasion by 
Manuel Doblado, who acquitted himself as an able 
and influential diplomat, winning the respect and 
approval of the British and Spanish Plenipotentiaries. 



TEE SECOND EMPIRE 243 

An agreement was reached respecting the matters to 
be discussed and decided upon at Orizaba. Doblado's 
argument was conclusive that the robbery of the funds 
at the British Legation by Marquez was the work of 
bandits for which the Government of Mexico could 
not be held accountable ; and he also showed conclu- 
sively to the Spanish Plenipotentiary that certain 
assassinations of which he complained, and for which 
his government sought redress, were acts which the 
government of Juarez had tried to prevent and was 
now taking energetic measures to punish. 

Although Doblado's efforts and arguments were 
less successful with the French agents than with the 
British and Spanish, it was agreed that the allies 
should recognize the Mexican Government as con- 
stitutional and legitimately established; that their 
troops should be allowed to occupy certain towns, 
as healthful and convenient garrisons; and that if 
the conference to take place at Orizaba failed of a 
satisfactory issue, and negotiations were broken off, 
the troops of the allies were to fall back from the 
places they had been allowed to occupy conditionally, 
and hostilities would then of course begin. 

At the Orizaba Conference, the Count de Saligny 
declared that the Mexican Government had heaped so 
many fresh grievances upon the French subjects that 
he could no longer treat with it, and would be con- 
tent with nothing less than a march upon the capital 
of the country. General Laurencez had already 
arrived in Mexico with reinforcements which in- 
creased the French army to over six thousand five 
hundred men. These had been sent in order, as was 
alleged, that the Spanish forces might not exceed in 
number those of France. 



244 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

With these reinforcements came also General Al- 
monte, Padre Miranda, Haro y Tamaris, and others 
whose characters were odious in the eyes of Mexico, 
and whose names recalled some of the worst scenes 
in a civil war that had proved a disgrace to the civil- 
ization of the nineteenth century, and who were 
responsible for many of the outrages for which the 
allied powers now sought redress. Almonte might 
not have been precisely in such a category, but he 
was offensive to the Constitutionalists of Mexico, both 
because of his former connection with the Conserva- 
tives and Reactionaries, and because while living in 
exile in Paris he had been active in poisoning the 
mind of the Emperor of the French in regard to 
Mexican affairs. Under the protection of the French 
flag, these men assumed an arrogant air, and Almonte 
went so far as to assume the title of "Provisional 
President of Mexico," and to issue manifestos and 
proclamations calling upon the Mexicans to overthrow 
the government of Juarez. Miranda and the others 
openly and vauntingly avowed that they had come by 
the express command of the Emperor of the French, 
to upset the government of President Juarez. The 
execution of Robles, which for his offence at such a 
time was justifiable in any country of the world, was 
proclaimed as a murder, and was given as a new 
reason for the French support of the projects of 
Almonte. Unquestionably, the French expedition 
was assuming, — by the presence of General Almonte, 
Padre Miranda, and the others, — the character of an 
afterpiece to the War of the Reform. 

Juarez protested against the presence of these men 
in the French camp, and his protest was emphasized 
by the declaration of the English and Spanish com- 



TSE SECOND EMPIRE 245 

missioners that the persistence of France in protecting 
the Mexican conspirators was contrary to the terms 
of the Treaty of London. But all was to no avail. 
The decisive action of the British Commodore in 
regard to Miramon was more effectual. Miramon 
attempted to join Almonte and the others in the 
French camp, but Commodore Dunlop declared that 
if he attempted to land he would at once arrest him 
on account of his part in the robbery of the British 
Legation. Miramon accordingly thought it wise to 
withdraw to Havana. 

In the attempt to adjust the claims of the allied 
powers at Orizaba, the French commissioners de- 
manded on behalf of France a round sum of twelve 
million dollars, without details or items, "as an 
approximation to the value of the French claims by 
a million or two more or less," in addition to the 
Jecker claim of one million five hundred thousand 
dollars. It was shown, however, that on its bonds 
issued to the above amount the government of 
Miramon had received no more than seven hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. Jecker was demanding 
the face value of his bonds from the Juarez Govern- 
ment, on the plea that one government was bound 
by the acts and obligations of another. Juarez 
offered to assume the seven hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars, with interest at five per cent, but re- 
pudiated the idea of being liable for the one million 
five hundred thousand dollars. 

The English Commissioner showed that the de- 
mands of the French could only lead to war, as no 
nation on earth could accede to them. It was 
unquestionably with war in view that the French 
Commissioners advanced them. The projects of the 



246 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

.three allied powers were soon found to be "incompat- 
ible," and the English and Spanish troops were with- 
drawn from the enterprise. The Treaty of London 
was quickly thrown aside by the commissioners from 
France, and the French were left in Mexico to carry 
out the purposes of Napoleon III. 

In April, 1862, immediately after the Convention 
of Orizaba, the French General issued a proclamation 
declaring a military dictatorship established in Mex- 
ico, with Almonte as Supreme Chief of the nation. 
The same day, the French army was reorganized in 
two divisions, and advanced towards the capital, 
one division by way of Jalapa, the other by way of 
Orizaba. An army of Mexicans, under the com- 
mand of General Marquez, joined the forces of the 
Interventi onis ts . 

The peril in which Mexico again found herself had 
the effect of sifting her military leaders. Zaragoza, 
Escobedo, and Porfirio Diaz remained stanch adher- 
ents of the Republic. Comonfort early returned 
from France, and, joining the forces of Juarez, was 
appointed Commander-in-chief. Senor Gallardo, 
father of a gallant young Republican Colonel, raised 
and equipped two troops of cavalry, and undertook 
to advance twelve thousand dollars a month for 
the services of the Republic until its independence 
was restored. Vidaurri held the State of San Luis 
Potosi for the Republicans for a time, and then 
deserted to the Imperialists. Zuloaga refused to 
fight against his country, and retired altogether from 
the scene of the approaching conflict. Mejia joined 
the cause of the Interventionists, and Miramon came 
back to Mexico to do the same as soon as it was safe 
for him to enter the country. 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 247 

One column of the Army of the Intervention ad- 
vanced toward the capital by way of Orizaba and 
Puebla. By the French it was su^Dposed that the 
advance was to be a mere military parade ; that the 
mass of the Mexican people were either indifferent 
to or absolutely in favor of the Intervention; and 
that the few who objected to it had neither strength 
nor spirit to resist. But there was a surprise in store 
for the advancing army. Puebla was found to be 
occupied by an inferior force of badly equipped raw 
recruits, under the very efficient command of General 
Zaragoza, who had prepared for the advance of the 
French invading forces by hastily fortifying the hills 
of Guadalupe and Loretto. No plausible excuse was 
offered by the French for attacking Puebla. The 
attacking" forces numbered more than seven thousand 
well-organized and well-disciplined men. Yet not- 
withstanding their disadvantages the Republican 
forces repulsed the invaders with terrible slaughter, 
and won a glorious victory. 

The battle was fought on the fifth of May, 1862. 
It was exceedingly inspiriting to the Republicans, 
and it gave to Mexico one of her greatest national 
feast days, M Cinco de Mayo. In appreciation of his 
brilliant victory and defence of the city. General 
Zaragoza was appointed Military Governor of Vera 
Cruz, his name was inscribed in letters of gold upon 
the walls of the Hall of Congress, and the official 
name of Puebla was changed to " Puebla de Zara- 
goza." Porfirio Diaz was promoted to the rank of 
General for the brilliant part he took in the defence 
of the city. 

The defeated French retreated to Orizaba, not 
strong enough to attack again, but too strong to be 



248 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

attacked. Zaragoza was soon transferred, at his own 
request, to the army of operations under Ortega, and 
returned to the defence of Puebla. He attempted to 
follow up the advantage he had gained, by marching 
against the French at Orizaba; but was surprised 
and defeated at Cerro del Borrego. He withdrew to 
Puebla, and there he died of typhus fever the follow- 
ing September, to the great loss of the Republican 
cause, for he was regarded as the greatest military 
genius the country had ever produced. 

Toward the end of September, General Laurencez 
was superseded in the command of the Army of the 
Intervention by the French General Forey, who 
brought from France sufficient reinforcements to 
raise the army to twenty thousand men. Not only 
did he assume command of the army, but he also 
constituted himself Military Dictator over the whole 
country, declaring that he had come by order of the 
Emperor of the French, to destroy the government 
of Juarez, and to free the people of Mexico from his 
despotic sway. He was so indiscreet as to issue a 
proclamation confiscating the property of all who 
failed immediately to give in their adhesion to the 
new system. This, however, met with no favor in 
Europe, — not even in France, where the papers sar- 
castically commented upon the "inconvenience of 
addressing remonstrances to Russia regarding the 
confiscations in Lithuania, while Forey was carrying 
the same system a step or two farther in Mexico." 

The French army, thus reinforced, began a second 
advance toward the capital. Puebla was captured 
in May, 1863, but not without desperate fighting, for 
the Mexicans defended their city inch by inch, and 
preferred death to submitting to any terms of sur- 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 249 

render offered by the French. The city was finally 
taken, however; the soldiers who had held it so 
valiantly were either slain or dispersed, and some of 
the officers were taken prisoner and carried away to 
France. Diaz escaped from imprisonment before he 
could be carried into exile. 

The fall of Puebla broke the heart of the Mexican 
resistance, and left the City of Mexico exposed to the 
invaders without means of defence. On the last day 
of May, President Juarez left the capital, accom- 
panied by his ministers, and set up his government 
at San Luis Potosi on the tenth of June. There he 
remained until near the end of 1863. 

On the eleventh of June the Army of the Inter- 
vention occupied the capital. General Forey was 
accompanied by Dubois Saligny (the French Com- 
missioner who had conducted negotiations on behalf 
of France at the late Conferences of Soledad and 
Orizaba), General Marquez (the "Infamous Mar- 
quez," as Europeans were already beginning to call 
him), and General Almonte. Forey appointed a pre- 
fect for the city, and proceeded to select thirty-five 
citizens to act as a " Supreme Council of the Nation," 
and as a basis for the establishment of a permanent 
government. The Supreme Council elected General 
Almonte, General Mariano Salas, and Archbishop 
Labastida as Regents, with the Bishop of Puebla as 
the alternate of the Archbishop, who was in France. 
Into the hands of the Regency passed the govern- 
ment of Mexico, pending the completion of the plans 
of the Emperor of the French, which were now no 
longer concealed, and were found to include the long- 
cherished schemes of the Monarchical or Imperialistic 
party of previous years. 



250 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Subsequently an "Assembly of Notables" was 
organized as a legislative body. It was composed 
of two hundred and thirty-one members, apparently 
selected at random, representing the twenty-four 
States of Mexico then in existence, without regard 
to the population of those States. They were, of 
course, all of monarchical predilections. 

On the tenth of July, 1863, this strangely consti- 
tuted Assembly passed an "Act" adopting for the 
country a monarchical form of government, and 
offering the crown to Fernando Maximiliano (Ferdi- 
nand Maximilian), Archduke of Austria. It further 
provided that in case Maximilian should decline the 
crown it should be offered to any Roman Catholic 
prince whom the Emperor of the French should des- 
ignate. A Committee of Monarchists and Reaction- 
aries (including Gutierrez de Estrada, who was 
already in Europe) was appointed to proceed to the 
Archducal Palace of Maximilian, at Miramar, to 
offer him the crown and hasten his departure for 
Mexico. 

The Regents nominally at the head of the govern- 
ment of Mexico were under the direct control of two 
agents of the Emperor of the French. They were 
General Forey, Commander-in-chief of the Army of 
the Interventionists, and Dubois Saligny, the French 
Minister who had been unpleasantly involved in the 
business of the Intervention from the beginning. 
That all the actions of the Assembly of Notables 
were brought about by these two persons, acting 
under explicit instructions from Paris, cannot now 
be doubted. If not at the time of the Treaty of 
London, very soon afterwards. Napoleon III. had 
communicated to the Imperial house of Austria his 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 251 

intention of placing the Archduke Maximilian at the 
head of the Empire he proposed to establish; and 
this had been the subject of diplomatic correspond- 
ence with other European nations. Hence the action 
of the Assembly of Notables in offering the crown to 
Maximilian was no surprise to Europeans. 

Before the end of 1863, both Forey and Saligny 
were recalled, owing to the too great precipitancy 
with w^hich these events had been brought about. 
Napoleon deplored the actions of these agents, or at 
least the frank publicity given to them, as of " too 
reactionary " a character. Forey was succeeded in 
the command of the army in Mexico by Marshal 
Bazaine, who throughout the subsequent history of 
the Intervention proved a faithful servant of Louis 
Napoleon. 

Under the command of Bazaine, the French troops 
proceeded to occupy the interior of Mexico. The 
army was again divided into two columns. One of 
these, under the command of General Marquez, took 
the road to Morelia. The other, under the com- 
mand of General Tomas Mejia, advanced toward 
Queretaro. Within a month, the Interventionists 
had control of the country as far as Guadalajara 
in the northwest, Queretaro in the north, and Vera 
Cruz in the east. The extreme northern States and 
the extreme southern States, — twelve in number, — 
were not yet occupied by the Interventionists. There 
were Members of the Assembly of Notables claiming 
to represent those States, but they were mere refugees 
at the capital. 

Meanwhile, the Republican forces were scattered 
but not exterminated. There were bands of patriots 
in Michoacan, in Jalisco, in Sinaloa, in Sonora, in 



252 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Durango, in Zacatecas, in Tamaulipas, in the moun- 
tains of Puebla and Oaxaca, in Vera Cruz, Tabasco, 
and the south. A Republican press was maintained 
by able political writers, and continued to instruct 
the people in their rights under the Constitution. 
Porfirio Diaz was made Commander-in-chief of the 
Republican Army in the South, and invested with 
full power for the administration of affairs and for 
the defence of the southeastern States, — that is, 
Oaxaca, a part of Puebla, Chiapas, Tabasco, Cam- 
peche, and Yucatan. He took up and maintained a 
position between Puebla and Oaxaca. 

The advance of the French army in the direction 
of San Luis Potosi forced the Constitutional Govern- 
ment from that city to Saltillo, where it was estab- 
lished in November, 1863. Being informed that 
Santiago Vidaurri, Governor of the States of Leon 
and Coahuila, who had formerly been an adherent of 
the Constitutional party, was in negotiation with the 
French, Juarez removed the seat of his government 
to Monterey. Vidaurri refused to recognize the Re- 
publican government, and fled to the City of Mexico, 
where he openly avowed his adherence to the Im- 
perialists. Juarez maintained his government in 
Monterey from April to the middle of August, 
1864. 

The Committee appointed by the Assembly of 
Notables lost no time in discharging the duties laid 
upon them. They were received at the Archducal 
Palace in Austria, and made known to the Archduke 
their business. Much to their surprise, Maximilian 
withheld his acceptance of the proffered throne until 
he could be assured that the people of Mexico had, 
state by state and town by town, expressed their 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 253 

wish that he should come to reign over them, by- 
suffrage of some kind, certified in such way that he 
could determine the number of voters in favor of 
the Empire, and the ratio of this number to the 
population of the country. He desired also that 
the European nations should give him guarantees 
that the throne of Mexico would be protected from 
dangers which then appeared to threaten it. 

The whole matter was therefore, in effect, referred 
back to Marshal Bazaine, as the agent of the French 
Government, to secure such an election as would 
satisfy the scruples of the Archduke and induce him 
to accept the proffered throne. Shortly afterwards, 
certificates of election in favor of the Empire and of 
Maximilian for Emperor were produced from "all 
places occupied by the French bayonets." These 
words are significant of the manner in which the 
election was conducted, and indicate how faithfully 
Bazaine was prepared to perform the duties intrusted 
to him by the Emperor of the French. That Em- 
peror furthermore gave the Archduke every assurance 
that the Empire of Mexico would receive such sup- 
port from France as might be required, but he believed 
that it could be upheld without further bloodshed, 
all "military questions " having been already settled. 

Maximilian was therefore prepared to accept the 
throne as early as the tenth of December, 1863. He 
concluded all the preliminaries with Napoleon III. 
and with his Imperial brother, Francis Joseph of 
Austria, who was the head of his family. This was, 
however, without the participation in any way of the 
Austrian Government. That government studiously 
avoided all complication in the affair, and it is clearly 
erroneous to speak of the " Austro-French " or of the 



254 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

" Franco- Austrian Empire " in Mexico. The Aus- 
trian Emperor looked with disfavor upon the scheme 
from the beginning, and the Austrian people were 
bitterly opposed to the acceptance of the throne by 
Maximilian. The " thought of ruling the old Empire 
of the Aztecs was not devoid of poetic charm and 
romantic character," said the Austrian newspapers, 
" but the time had gone by when such caprices were 
sufficient to compromise the policy of great states 
and throw them into endless complications." It 
was deemed especially unwise in an Austrian prince 
to accept any crown from the hands of a Napoleon. 
In the official circles of the Austrian capital, the 
Mexican scheme met with decided resistance up to 
the last moment. The Archduke's persistence, how- 
ever, triumphed over all opposition, even though his 
decision caused a coolness between himself and his 
Imperial brother; and it was openly declared in 
Vienna, upon the announcement of his acceptance 
of the throne, that "Mexico and its Emperor were 
strangers to Austria and her interests." 

In the journalistic phrase about the poetic charm 
and romantic character of ruling the (supposed) an- 
cient Empire of the Aztecs, in all probability lay the 
strongest of the motives actuating Maximilian in the 
matter. His was precisely the character of mind to 
be dazzled by the romantic traditions regarding Mexico 
which had been set afloat in Europe ; and to be af- 
fected by the belief, widespread in Europe, that the 
Indians of Mexico hoped for the return of a sovereign 
from the East who was to restore a former govern- 
ment to which they had been accustomed in the be- 
ginning. This belief was one of the stock arguments 
of Gutierrez de Estrada, in his " open letter " of 1840, 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 255 

and in pamphlets upon that subject subsequently 
issued from his European exile. 

Ferdinand Maximilian was at this time in the 
thirty-second year of his age. He had been trained 
for the naval service, and had spent several years in 
travel and upon the seas. In 1855 he was appointed 
Commander-in-chief of the Austrian Navy, and is 
credited with the reorganization of the navy and its 
elevation to a respectable place among the navies of 
Europe. In 1857 he married the Princess Carlota of 
Belgium, a woman of lovely character and excellent 
mind. He was appointed by his brother, the Em- 
peror of Austria, Military and Civil Governor of 
Lombardy and Venice, where he proved a liberal- 
minded and public-spirited ruler. The capitals of 
these provinces still attest the attention he gave to 
arts, sciences, and public improvements. Indeed, 
the bent of his mind seems to have been in those 
directions rather than toward the sterner duties of 
statesmanship. The books he wrote were of travel 
and of "aphorisms," and were not likely to attract 
notice beyond the circle of courtiers among whom 
his life was spent. His penchant for public im- 
provement was gratified at the expense of the public 
funds, and with little idea of public or private econ- 
omy. The magnificent Archducal Palace of Mira- 
mar, on the rocks overlooking the Gulf of Trieste, 
involved him heavily in debt. The French govern- 
ment had not only to provide the money for the pay- 
ment of this debt, but to supply the means to defray 
the expenses of his journey to the new Empire. 

Unaffected and altogether charming in his man- 
ner, spotless in personal character, possessed of pure 
motives, Maximilian was yet lacking in political 



256 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

sagacity, as he was somewhat effeminate in appear- 
ance. He was tall and slender, with blonde hair 
and beard, both worn long and parted in the middle. 
His eyes were blue. The rather weak character in- 
dicated by his personal appearance seemed to imply 
that he was one likely to be deluded by the promises 
of Louis Napoleon and deceived as to the wishes of 
the Mexican people, as well as unsuspicious of the 
flattering attentions bestowed upon him by others, 
and thus easily lured to his ruin. 

On the eighth of April, 1864, Maximilian signed 
at Vienna the "Family Compact" whereby he re- 
nounced all rights which he might have in the 
succession to the Austrian throne, and dedicated 
himself entirely to the Mexican enterprise. Two 
days later, at a high function in the Palace of 
Miramar, the Committee of the Mexican Assembly of 
Notables again formally tendered him the Imperial 
crown of Mexico, and it was accepted by him in a 
speech declaring that he had not the slightest doubt, 
from the " Act of Adhesion " then presented to him, 
that an immense majority of the Mexican people were 
in favor of the Imperial form of government with 
himself at its head. Before an ecclesiastic present, 
Maximilian took an oath that he would, " by every 
means in his power, procure the well-being and pros- 
perity of the Mexican nation, defend its independ- 
ence, and preserve the integrity of its territory." The 
Mexican flag was unfurled on the tower of Miramar, 
salutes were fired by the vessels in thfe harbor of 
Trieste, and within the palace and among the crowds 
without, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. 

The same day was executed the " Treaty of Mira- 
mar," a very important document in its relation to 



THE SECOND EMPIRE 257 

subsequent events. It was an agreement, the details 
of which had been arranged some time previously 
between Maximilian and Napoleon III., by which 
Maximilian was to pay the Jecker claims, the sum 
of fifty-four million dollars for the support of the 
army, and all the expenses of the expedition of the 
Intervention, — making a total sum of oiie hundred 
and seventy-three million dollars of public debt with 
which to begin his career as Emperor of Mexico. 
The Treaty stipulated, among other things, that 
from year to year the force of thirty-eight thousand 
men, which then composed the French army occupy- 
ing Mexico, should be withdrawn as rapidly as Mexi- 
can troops could be organized to replace them, but 
that eight thousand men of the French army should 
remain in Mexico for six years. The French troo^DS 
were to be in complete accord with the Mexican 
Emperor, and the French military commander was 
not to interfere in any branch of the Mexican govern- 
ment. 

Four days later, the Emperor and Empress were on 
their way to the New World in an Austrian frigate 
escorted by a French man-of-war. The city of Rome 
was visited on the way, and the young Imperial couple 
had an audience with the Pope, the particulars of 
which are shrouded in deepest mystery. But the 
papal interests in the success of Conservative, Reac- 
tionary, and Monarchical parties having been already 
engaged, and the new Empire having in its inception 
been committed to the Roman Catholic religion, the 
interview is generally inferred to have been of deep 
significance. 

The Imperial party arrived in Vera Cruz on the 
twenty- ninth of May, 1864. The sovereigns were 

17 



258 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

received by General Almonte as President of the Re- 
gency. The seventh of June (the twenty-fifth birth- 
day of the Empress) was spent by the Imperial party 
in Puebla, on the way to the capital. Five days 
later, Maximilian and Carlota arrived in the City of 
Mexico, where they were received with every mani- 
festation of enthusiasm by the Imperialist residents 
of the city. In selecting his Council of Ministers, 
Maximilian took many who had been associated with 
the government of previous Absolutists. He ap- 
pointed as his Minister of State, however, a pro- 
nounc'ed Liberal, thinking thereby to conciliate the 
Republicans and win them over to the Empire; and 
the Liberal was induced, by the blandishments of 
Carlota, to accept the responsibilities of that trying 
position. But when the Emperor asked Mariano 
Riva Palacio to take a portfolio in his cabinet, he 
encountered a person of entirely different character. 
Senor Riva Palacio flatly refused, on the ground 
that it would be inconsistent for a Republican to 
hold office under an Empire. 

The Regency continued in office until the arrival 
of the Emperor, and then dissolved by limitation. 
The members retired, or assumed other duties as- 
signed them under the Imperial government. The 
Regents left the record of few official acts performed 
by them, — only such as were intended to secure the 
proper accomplishment of what might be called, in 
a country where every new scheme of government 
has been called a " Plan " of some kind, ' the " Plan 
Napoleon." 



THE CONFLICT 259 




CHAPTER XIII 

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC AND 
THE EMPIRE 

"^O the apparently few adherents of the Re- 
public and of Constitutional Government in 
the northern States of Mexico, the events 
set forth in the preceding chapter must have been 
disheartening in the extreme. It must have seemed 
that the end had come to all possibility of a Repub- 
lican form of government, or of a Constitution that 
would maintain the rights of individuals irrespective 
of class and in the face of the claims of the Church. 
But to the iron-willed man who was at the head 
of the apparently defeated Republican Government, 
there v/as no such word as surrender when applied to 
a great principle. 

Juarez felt that the French army was the concrete 
obstacle he had to overcome. All else was for the 
time a mere incident to that. He foresaw the end, 
and with Indian stoicism he bided his time, view- 
ing meanwhile, perhaps with grim satisfaction, all 
the difficulties which he knew would beset the at- 
tempts of Maximilian to maintain himself, and of the 
Clerical party to keep its hold upon the government 
of Mexico and to rule it through the Empire. It was 
well for him and for his country that through this 
grave crisis he had the tenacity of purpose which is 
characteristic of the race to which he belonged. 



260 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

In the middle of August, 1864, Juarez was forced 
to leave Monterey upon the approach of Imperial 
forces ; and after some detentions in Viesca, Mapimi, 
and Nazas, — necessary for the re-organization of the 
slender forces of the Republican Government, — he 
went to Chihuahua. Here he was able to maintain 
his government until the following August (1865), 
when the approach of some Imperial troops again 
caused the removal of his provisional capital. Ac- 
companied by twenty-two of his most trusted friends, 
the President went to the frontier town of Paso del 
Norte (now Ciudad Juarez), and there established 
his government. 

Among his twenty-two close adherents (afterwards 
dubbed " the Immaculates ") was Sebastian Lerdo de 
Tejada, brother of the late Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, 
who, in the capacity of Minister of State, exerted a 
powerful influence upon the affairs of the Republic 
even in those dark days. From Paso del Norte, 
Lerdo issued a circular declaring that it was the firm 
determination of the President not to abandon the 
territory of Mexico, but to maintain the struggle 
against the invaders of his country. The circular 
was followed by a letter from the President confirm- 
ing it. Both documents gave proof of the energy of 
the President and of his faith in the final triumph of 
constitutional government. Juarez declined several 
invitations from the Commandant at Fort Bliss, on 
the United States side of the Rio Grande, and gave 
no opportunities for the enemies of the Republic 
to gain the impression that he had abandoned the 
territory. 

The term for which, under the Constitution, Juarez 
had been elected President, expired while he was a 



THE CONFLICT 261 

fugitive from his capital. It would scarcely seem 
possible that the Presidency of Mexico under such 
circumstances could be the object of any one's ambi- 
tion; stranger yet that one who must have known 
the situation as well as did General Jesus Gonzalez 
Ortega should have aspired either to the title or the 
office. Ortega had virtually abandoned the office of 
President of the Supreme Court of Justice to which 
he had been elected, the Court itself having prac- 
tically dissolved during the peregrinations of the 
Executive department of the government. Yet in 
November, 1865, Ortega, by means of a pronuncia- 
mento, claimed the executive power. The term of 
Juarez had expired, he announced, and there had been 
no election to fill the vacancy thus created. The 
Presidency was therefore his by virtue of his office as 
President of the Supreme Court, in the same manner 
as that in which Juarez had himself first attained 
thereto. 

It was a situation calling for the exercise of that 
cool judgment which was one of the chief character- 
istics of Benito Juarez. Willingly would he have 
embraced this opportunity to escape the cares of the 
office of President of Mexico, when it was engaged 
solely in struggling against adversity. But Juarez 
clearly foresaw the disasters that must inevitably 
overtake the Republic if a change were effected in 
the government under the circumstances then exist- 
ing. He maintained that his term of office legally 
continued until, in time of peace, constitutional elec- 
tions could take place and his successor could be 
elected; and in this position he was sustained by all 
the Republican authorities remaining in the Northern 
States. 



262 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Probably Juarez was wise enough to see that his 
best course was to wait for the Empire to expire felo 
de se. It had, in fact, abeady reached its zenith, 
and was beginning to decline. Its earliest months 
had been devoted to instituting the paraphernalia of 
Imperial dignity in its alien home. There can be no 
question of the genuineness of Maximilian's efforts 
to "regenerate Mexico," — to quote the phrase he 
loved to use. That he made every effort to familiar- 
ize himself with his new country and its needs must 
also remain unquestioned. But after the novelty of 
the situation wore off, he failed to give that satis- 
faction to his partisans which had been expected. 
He found that Mexico was not easily governed by 
the mere issuance of decrees, however wisely and 
beneficently conceived. He discovered also that the 
professed partisans of the Empire were not to be 
trusted, and were not at peace among themselves. 
Efforts which he made to placate the Liberals, while 
failing of their direct object, alienated the members 
of his own party. The difficulties of the situation 
were enhanced by the fickleness of the Mexican char- 
acter. We have seen how much Juarez had to 
contend with in this trait of the Mexicans. Now 
Maximilian found that the many who had deserted 
Juarez for what was then apparently the more popular 
cause, were equally ready to desert the Imperialists 
when occasion offered. 

The Emperor came also into collision with the 
Clerical party very early. Though decreeing that 
the Roman Catholic religion was the established reli- 
gion of the country, Maximilian declared that other 
religions might be tolerated under some restrictions. 
The earliest demand of the Clerical party was that 



THE CONFLICT 263 

the property taken from the Church by the decree of 
sequestration should be restored. But inasmuch as 
this property had gone into the hands of third parties, 
and it was impossible to recover it, the "Reform 
Laws " of Juarez were allowed to remain in force. 
Upon the declaration of the Emperor to that effect, 
the Papal Nuncio then in Mexico at once withdrew, 
signifying thereby not only that the Clerical party 
in Mexico was offended, but the Papal See as well. 

Between Marshal Bazaine and the Mexican Em- 
peror, during the early days of the Empire, the warm- 
est friendship existed. So great was the Emperor's 
confidence in the integrity and good judgment of the 
Commander-in-chief of the French army, that it 
was not difficult for the latter, in contravention of 
the Treaty of Miramar, to dictate in many cases the 
policy of the Empire. When, however, the French 
soldier discovered that the interests of Maximilian 
and those of Napoleon were not absolutely identical, 
he hesitated not as to whom he owed the higher 
allegiance. He had nothing further to expect in 
Mexico, while a career awaited him in France, and 
the friendship of Napoleon III. was greatly to be pre- 
ferred to that of his puppet on the throne of Mexico, 
whose Empire was already hopelessly in debt and 
rapidly falling to pieces. 

The final downfall of the Empire may be directly 
traced to the action of the government at Washing- 
ton. The clouds of Civil War, hanging so heavily 
over the United States when the Treaty of London 
was signed, had furnished Napoleon HI. with the 
opportunity to carry out his schemes. He looked 
for the dismemberment of the United States and the 
permanent establishment of the Southern Confed- 



264 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIG 

eracy. That the Confederate States of America and 
the Mexican Empire should be kindly disposed to 
each other, was thought to be quite natural, — al- 
though this might seem strange in view of the fact 
that the people of the Southern Confederacy were 
fighting for principles almost identical with those 
which Juarez was striving to establish, and against 
a principle of centralization which he was opposing. 
It was one of the inconsistencies of politics, that 
the professedly democratic Southern Confederacy, 
avowedly opposed to Imperialism, should be looked 
upon as the ally of the Empire in Mexico. Neverthe- 
less, news of every Confederate victory was received 
in France with enthusiasm, and the. French news- 
papers made much of the reports of a public demon- 
stration in Richmond, the capital of the Confederate 
States, on the receipt of the news, in 1863, that the 
French army had captured Puebla. The Confederate 
States had given definite pledges that an alliance with 
the Mexican Empire might be counted on as soon as 
the Confederacy gained its independence. It was an 
important feature of the Napoleonic Plan. 

As long as the United States were engaged in war 
within their own borders, and especially during the 
dark days when it was doubtful what the issues of 
the struggle would be, nothing could be done by the 
government at Washington beyond protesting against 
the action of the French Emperor in trampling upon 
the rights claimed in the Monroe Doctrine. The 
United States government remained firm in its early 
recognition of the Juarez government. In fact, in 
July, 1862, it had been proposed by the United States 
government to loan Mexico sufficient funds for the 
payment of all her foreign debts (some seventy-two 



THE CONFLICT 265 

millions of dollars), and to take as a pledge for the 
repayment thereof in five years the provinces of 
Lower Oalifornia and Sonora — about one hundred 
and forty thousand square miles. But Juarez felt 
compelled to decline this offer, as v^^ell as another of a 
loan of ten million dollars on easy terms but v^ith 
the same pledge of territory as security for its repay- 
ment. The charge, once widely circulated, that 
Juarez had negotiated the sale of, or was desirous of 
selling, some of the Mexican territory, may have 
been based upon these offers of the United States. 
The efforts of Napoleon to sell Sonora to a promi- 
nent Confederate sympathizer belong, not to a his- 
tory of the struggle for Constitutional Government 
in Mexico, but to a more detailed account of the 
Second Mexican Empire. Maintenance of the integ- 
rity of Mexican territory was one of the political 
principles which Juarez had adopted; and he was 
true to it, even when it might seem to have been the 
better statesmanship or better financial policy to have 
relaxed it. 

The government at Washington had declined to 
pay any regard to the notification received from the 
" Under Secretary of State and Foreign Affairs of the 
Regency of the Empire of Mexico," of the action of 
" The Assembly of Notables " on the tenth of July, 
1863. Its relations with the Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary of the Juarez government remained unbroken 
throughout the years when it must have seemed to 
many that the Empire was triumphant and that the 
restoration of the Republic was well-nigh hopeless. 
On every occasion that offered, it reiterated the 
interest it felt in the " safety, welfare, and prosperity 
of Mexico," and whenever it mentioned Mexico it 



266 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

implied thereby the constitutionally organized gov- 
ernment of the Republic there. At first it accepted, 
as though made in good faith, the declaration of 
France that she was at war with Mexico "for the 
purpose of asserting just claims " and obtaining pay- 
ment for just debts due from that nation, and not for 
the purpose of colonizing or acquiring any territory 
for herself or for any other nation ; that she did not 
intend to occupy Mexico permanently, nor do vio- 
lence to the sovereignty of the people ; and that " as 
soon as her griefs were satisfied and she could do so 
with honor, " she would quit Mexico entirely. 

So long as these assurances were relied upon, the 
United States maintained a position of strict neutral- 
ity, disclaiming any " right or disposition to intervene 
by force in the internal affairs of Mexico, to establish 
or maintain a Republic or even a domestic govern- 
ment, or overthrow an Imperial or foreign one if 
Mexico chose to establish or accept it." But as it 
was clearly stated in a letter from the Hon. William 
H. Seward, Secretary of State, to the United States 
Minister to France, September twenty-sixth, 1863, 
the government at Washington claimed to know that 
"the inherent normal opinion of Mexico favored a 
government there, republican in form and domestic in 
its organization, in preference to any monarchical in- 
stitution to be imposed from abroad, . . . that such 
normal opinion of the people of Mexico resulted 
largely from the influence of popular opinion in the 
United States, and was constantly invigorated by it." 
The government of the United States was prepared, 
however, to declare that "should France determine 
to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse to American 
opinions and sentiments, that policy would probably 



THE CONFLICT 267 

scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies 
which might ultimately ripen into collision between 
France and the United States and other American 
Republics." 

When the purposes of France became apparent 
beyond all possibility of doubt, the Senate and House 
of Representatives at Washington passed a joint reso- 
lution to the effect that the occupation of Mexico by 
the Emperor of the French, or by " the person indi- 
cated by him as Emperor of Mexico, " was an offence 
to the people of the United States ; that the move- 
ments of France, and the threatened movements of 
"an Empire improvised by the Emperor of the 
French," if insisted upon, demanded war; and this 
resolution was furthermore declared to embody noth- 
ing inconsistent with what had been held out to 
France from the beginning. Although the United 
States did not at that time seem in a position to 
carry out its threat of war with France, there was 
no hesitancy about the assertion of the "Monroe 
Doctrine," and it was hoped that the means to main- 
tain the position thus asserted would be forthcoming 
if required. 

All protests and warnings were, however, un- 
heeded by France so long as the war continued in 
the United States. But before the summer of 1865, 
the entire aspect of affairs took a change totally un- 
expected by Napoleon III. The Civil War came to 
an end, without any dismemberment of the United 
States. The Mexican Empire was thus left without 
any prospect of an ally in the North American con- 
tinent; while the government at Washington was 
free to give to the French Intervention the attention 
it demanded. It returned to the subject, and pur- 



268 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

sued it with vigor. It declared in the most emphatic 
terms that France had trespassed upon the rights 
which the United States claimed as set forth in the 
"Monroe Doctrine," both in attempting European 
colonization in some of the Mexican States, and by 
establishing and maintaining an Empire on the 
American continent. It demanded that the French 
troops be withdrawn from Mexico without delay, 
and that all attempts at colonization cease; and it 
emphasized these demands by ordering an officer of 
high rank in its army to the side of President Juarez, 
and by placing an " army of observation " on the 
Mexican, frontier. 

So resolute was the tone of this diplomatic corre- 
spondence, and so unmistakable was the disposition 
of the government at Washington to enforce its de- 
mands by war should this be necessary, that these 
warnings could no longer be disregarded. Napoleon, 
finding public opinion in France strongly opposed to 
his projects and their continuance, yielded to the 
situation; he agreed to withdraw his troops from 
Mexico within a specified time, and to abstain from 
further interference in Mexican affairs or attempts at 
colonization in that country. The triumph of the 
" Monroe Doctrine " was complete. 

It was after this course had been agreed upon, but 
before the mobilization of the French troops, prepar- 
atory to their final withdrawal from the country, had 
begun, that Maximilian took the step which sealed 
his own fate and that of his Empire. * It was the 
issuing of the famous Decree of October 3, 1865. 
The Mexicans, who are expert in devising nick- 
names, often call it the "Decree of Huitzilopochtli, " 
that being the name of the War-god of the Aztecs, 



TEE CONFLICT 269 

who was only to be propitiated by human sacrifices. 
This decree was so utterly at variance with the 
temper and spirit of the Emperor's official acts gen- 
erally, that it has been debated as to whether it 
originated with him or was a measure dictated by 
others. It was held subsequently that Bazaine was 
responsible for the false information upon which the 
decree was based, and had inspired the decree itself. 
The decree purported to be based upon information 
that President Juarez had abandoned the Mexican 
territory, crossed the northern frontier, and gone to 
Santa F^, New Mexico. It declared that the cause 
sustained by him with so much valor had at last 
succumbed, and that the chief had abandoned his 
country and his government. "Henceforth," it went 
on to say, "the struggle will no longer be between 
opposing systems of government, but between the 
Empire established by the will of the people and the 
criminals and bandits which infest the country." It 
therefore declared that all persons carrying arms 
against the Empire, as well as all persons aiding 
them by selling them arms or supplies, were to be 
tried by courts-martial and condemned to death. 
Punishments by fine and imprisonment were pre- 
scribed for all who in any other way opposed the 
Empire. 

The Emperor's recognition of the courage and 
constancy of Juarez, in the preamble of the "bloody " 
decree, caught the fancy of the Mexicans and tickled 
their sense of humor; and one of the papers, pub- 
lished in the capital, produced a caricature of the 
Emperor fastening upon the breast of Juarez (who 
wore a Phrygian cap) a medal for courage and con- 
stancy. In various ways the Emperor had paid 



270 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the 
President, — sometimes by allowing the measures of 
the latter to stand altogether unopposed, and often by 
his failure to reverse them when he tried to do so. 

Naturally, this decree has often been compared 
with that issued by Juarez on the twenty-fifth of 
January, 1862. But in such a comparison it must 
not be forgotten that the Imperial decree was based 
upon more than one false premise, as well as upon 
information that was untrue and the falsity of which 
was easily ascertainable. It was a false premise that 
the President had abandoned the country and his 
government. It was a false premise that the Mexi- 
can Empire had been established by the will of the 
people, and that the supporters of constitutional 
government were criminals and bandits. Far differ- 
ent, therefore, were the measures, however drastic, 
put forth by a Constitutional ruler in support of a 
legitimate national government threatened with trea- 
son within and invasion from without; far different 
would have been the most cruel decree that could 
have been sent forth under such circumstances, from 
a measure adopted to sustain an Empire obtruded 
upon a people in the first place, and then in the last 
throes of dissolution, being dependent upon foreign 
arms for its support throughout. 

It was subsequently claimed, also, in mitigation of 
the criminality of the Decree of October 3, that it 
was only intended to terrorize the opponents of the 
Empire, and was not expected to be enforced. Un- 
fortunately it was enforced, and in such a manner as 
to be the suicidal act of the Imperial Government. 
A few days after it was issued, and before it could 
be generally known outside of the capital except 



THE CONFLICT 271 

in the Imperial army, General Salazar (Military 
Governor of Michoacan), General Arteaga, Colonel 
Trinidad Villagomez, Colonel Jesus Diaz, and Cap- 
tain Gonzalez, officers of the Republican army, — men 
of excellent reputation and high standing, — were 
made prisoners in the State of Michoacan by Gen-' 
eral Mendez of the Imperial army. They were tried 
by court-martial, condemned to death, and on the 
twenty-fourth of October were taken to Uruapan and 
there executed, in total disregard of the rules of war 
and of civilization. 

The force of this ill-advised decree could not have 
fallen more unfortunately for the fate of the Emperor. 
The Imperialist newspapers at the capital described 
Arteaga as " an honest and sincere man, whose career 
had been distinguished by humanity." Salazar was 
one who could write to his mother the night before 
his execution : " My conscience is at rest. I go down 
to the tomb at thirty-three years of age, without a 
stain upon my military career or a blot on my name. " 
Two hundred Belgian prisoners, in the hands of the 
Liberals at Tacambaro, protested most vigorously 
against this act of inhumanity, and stated in their 
letter to the Emperor that they had come to Mexico 
solely to act as a guard of honor to their Empress, 
and had been forced to fight against principles iden- 
tical with their own. 

The summary execution of this decree upon brave 
soldiers, in arms in defence of their land and consti- 
tutional government, raised a storm of indignation 
against the Emperor and his ministers in still another 
quarter. Many who had been favorably disposed 
toward the Empire now became lukewarm, or turned 
directly against it ; while the neutrals were prompted 



272 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

to declare themselves openly in favor of the Republic. 
If such were the workings of a monarchical form of 
government, they were thenceforth in favor of the 
Constitution which was designed to furnish immunity 
from that class of experiences which had already 
stained too many pages of the history of Mexico. 
Disappointed that the Empire, with its "prince of 
foreign stock at its head," did not furnish an im- 
provement upon what Mexico already knew far too 
well, a great many turned toward Juarez with the 
determination to support him in his efforts to rees- 
tablish constitutional government. And thus the 
fortunes of the little band of stalwart Republicans on 
the frontier began to turn. 

The work of withdrawing the French troops from 
the interior and concentrating them upon the capital 
was successfully accomplished by Bazaine before the 
end of 1866. Some time was spent in arranging 
the exchange of prisoners between the foreign and 
the Republican armies, but this was finally done in a 
manner greatly to the credit of both armies, and the 
forces of the Republic were augmented by the return 
of some of those previously held as prisoners by the 
Imperialists. Toward the close of January, 1867, 
the foreign army began to retire, " and extended like 
a girdle of steel along the sandy road from the City 
of Mexico to Vera Cruz." 

Bazaine used his influence with Maximilian to 
induce him to abdicate and return with the French 
army to Europe. The only way open to him to dis- 
charge the many obligations he was under to Maxi- 
milian was, it seemed to Bazaine, to urge him to 
escape from the fate that must inevitably overtake 
him if he persisted in remaining in Mexico. This 



THE CONFLICT 273 

he urged in personal interviews and in many letters ; 
and the last act of Bazaine, before sailing from Vera 
Cruz, in March, 1867, was to write to Maximilian 
offering him a final opportunity to escape in the 
vessels provided for the transportation of the French 
army. 

Bazaine returned to Europe to become the trusted 
Commander-in-chief of the unfortunate armies of 
France in the war with Prussia in 1870-71. He was 
faithful to his Emperor to the very end, but after the 
surrender of Sedan lost the confidence of the French 
people. He was court-martialled, and sentenced to 
death. After an escape from prison, he sank into 
obscurity, from which his death raised his name for a 
short time. He carried to the grave the maledictions 
of the Mexican people, in whose memory dwelt a large 
number of cruelties practised in his ready obedience 
to the behests of the Emperor Napoleon HI. 

As the French troops had withdrawn from the 
towns of Northern Mexico, the Republicans of the 
northern States reunited and occupied them. Thus, 
in November, 1865, a few of his soldiers having cap- 
tured Chihuahua, Juarez promptly transferred thereto 
the seat of his government from Paso del Norte. He 
had to retreat, however, before returning troops in 
December, and was in Paso del Norte again on the 
eighteenth of that month. Early in June, 1866, the 
Republican troops were sufficiently reorganized to 
gain their first decided victory over Mexican Impe- 
rialists; Chihuahua was finally evacuated by the 
Imperial troops, and the seat of the Republican 
government was established there. 

Thenceforth the tide of war turned in favor of the 
Republican arms. Escobedo, who had been in Texas 

18 



274 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

from June, 1864, to the latter part of 1865, organ- 
izing help for Mexico, surprised and captured the 
Imperial garrison at Monterey. This had the effect 
of augmenting his forces and bringing together the 
dispersed soldiers of the Republic. In March, 1866, 
he was enabled to begin offensive operations toward 
the South. In June he captured Saltillo, after a 
brief resistance. He was appointed General-in-chief 
of the Army of the North, and continued his success- 
ful operations. In September he marched toward 
Guanajuato, and established his headquarters in 
Celaya. There he was joined by forces from Mich- 
oacan and from the north. Thereupon Juarez felt 
justified in transferring his seat of government to 
Zacatecas in January, 1867; but on the twenty- 
seventh of that month, he and his cabinet barely 
escaped falling into the hands of Miramon, and were 
obliged to take refuge in Sombrerete. Escobedo 
defeated Miramon at San Jacinto on the first of Feb- 
ruary, and the latter retired to Queretaro. Juarez 
removed the seat of his government to San Luis 
Potosi, where it remained throughout the closing 
scenes of the Imperial regime. 

After the news came to Maximilian of the final 
decision of Napoleon III. to withdraw his support 
from the Mexican Empire, the unhappy Archduke 
pursued for a time a vacillating policy. A self- 
sacrificing effort, on the part of Carlota, to induce 
Napoleon to reverse his decision and adhere to the 
Treaty of Miramar, resulted in disaster to the beauti- 
ful Princess. This misfortune made the position of 
Maximilian the more trying. Plunged in melancholy 
by his domestic sorrows, and with the support with- 
drawn upon which his Empire had chiefly rested, he 



THE CONFLICT 275 

debated with himself what he ought to do. The 
purity and honesty of his personal motives remain 
unquestioned. He had accepted the task of "regen- 
erating Mexico," and of giving good government to 
that country. He had failed to accomplish this. He 
was confronted by his own mistakes; but he felt in 
duty bound to embrace an opportunity, if it were 
extended to him, to make another effort. He finally 
attempted to shift the responsibility of the choice of 
duties resting upon him, by calling a meeting of his 
Council, at Orizaba, in November, 1866, and leaving 
with that body his abdication. The Council, by a 
small majority, declined to accept it. At the same 
time, the Church party stepped forward with an offer 
of support and a proposition to try the Emperor once 
more. The Empire therefore gathered itself together 
for a final struggle. 

Miramon, after the establishment of the Regency, 
entered Mexico by way of the northern frontier, and 
hastened to the capital to tender his services to the 
Empire. They were not accepted, and he went 
abroad again. When Maximilian came, Miramon 
renewed his offer, and it was accepted; but Maxi- 
milian, fearing that his presence in the country might 
embarrass the Imperial government in some way, 
asked him to remain abroad and "study the Prus- 
sian system of military tactics." Marquez was at 
the same time sent as a special envoy to Turkey, 
that the Empire might not be embarrassed by his too 
close intimacy. When Miramon now opportunely 
returned to Mexico, he was sent by Maximilian to 
the capital to take command of a division of the 
Mexican Imperial army which it became necessary 
to organize there with the means provided by the 



276 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

Church. Marquez was recalled and made Com- 
mander-in-chief of the forces at the capital. 

It was then decided to transfer the Imperial seat 
of government to Queretaro; and in February, 1867, 
the Emperor, in command of the entire army, and 
with Marquez as the chief of his forces, set out to 
march thither. General Tomas Mejia, as commander 
of the Third Division of the Army of the Empire, 
had evacuated San Luis Potosi in December, 1866, 
and retired to Queretaro. After his defeat by Esco- 
bedo at San Jacinto, Miramon made Queretaro his 
objective point; and subsequently General Mendez, 
from Morelia, added to the number of Imperial troops 
gathered in that city, which, though supposed to be 
a stronghold of the Church, was a very poor strategic 
position, being, as Maximilian afterwards called it, 
"a mouse-trap." 

The troops within Queretaro numbered eight thou- 
sand picked men. Maximilian, writing to one of his 
ministers on the ninth of February, reviewed the 
condition of his army after he had been abandoned 
by the French, and acknowledged the jnistaken im- 
pression under which he had labored when he signed 
the decree of October 3, 1865. "The Republican 
forces, wrongly represented as demoralized, disor- 
ganized, and united solely by the hope of pillage," 
he wrote, " prove by their conduct that they form a 
homogeneous army whose stimulus is the courage 
and perseverance of a chief moved by a great idea — 
that of defending the national independence which 
he believes threatened by the establishment of our 
Empire." 

The opportunity for which the Republican govern- 
ment had so long and so patiently waited had arrived 



'the conflict 211 

. s 

at last, and Juarez took advantage of it. In Novem- 
ber, Escobedo found himself at the head of an army 
numbering fifteen thousand men. He was ordered 
to advance upon Queretaro. After an obstinate 
fight with the Imperialists on the heights of San 
Gregorio, Escobedo, his army now increased to 
twenty thousand men, surrounded Queretaro, and 
from the twelfth of March to the fifteenth of May, 
1867, held the city in a state of siege. 

The Imperialists made a series of brilliant sorties. 
In one of these, Marquez was sent to the City of 
Mexico with Vidaurri, — the former to raise rein- 
forcements for the relief of the besieged, the latter 
to assume the office of Lieutenant of the Empire. 
Marquez, in disobedience of the Emperor's orders, 
and perfidious as ever, went to the relief of Puebla, 
then hard pressed by the soldiers of General Porfirio 
Diaz. His idea appears to have been that the Empire 
was about to go to pieces, but that there were chances 
of three governments being established, one in the 
North, one with Queretaro as its capital; and that 
his career lay in the establishment of the third, with 
Puebla as its capital, if not the City of Mexico. He 
was defeated by Diaz, and returned to the capital. 
There he assumed dictatorial powers, marked by the 
cruelty for which he was always famous. 

On the fourteenth of May, a general sortie from 
Queretaro had been planned, and the Emperor met 
with his officers in a Council of War. It was then 
declared by Mejia that the success of the movement 
was impossible at that time, and upon his advice the 
matter was postponed for twenty -four hours. After 
the breaking up of the Council, Colonel Miguel 
Lopez, a favorite member of the Emperor's staff 



278 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

went over to the Republican headquarters and gave 
information which enabled a small detachment of the 
Republican army to enter the city at daybreak the 
next morning. 

The Emperor was awakened by his secretary, in 
his headquarters in the Church of La Cruz, early on 
the fifteenth of May, and was bidden to try to escape. 
He went out hurriedly, and was joined by Mejia on 
the Cerro de las Campanas. The assault on the city 
threw everything into confusion. The little party of 
Imperialists on the Cerro attracted the attention of 
the Republicans, and the fire of some of the batteries 
was directed toward it. Maximilian asked Mejia, the 
stoical Indian soldier at his side, what chances there 
were, and received the reply that it was utterly futile 
to prolong the struggle. A white flag was displayed, 
and Maximilian delivered his sword to a Republican 
officer who rode up in response to the signal. Thus 
ended the Second Mexican Empire. 

Mendez was apprehended, and with the recollection 
vivid in the minds of his captors of his too prompt 
execution of the decree of October third, he was un- 
ceremoniously shot. Miramon was wounded in the 
assault upon the city, and was put under arrest. 

Shortly afterwards, the Teatro de Iturbide, in the 
city of Queretaro, was the scene of a remarkable 
court-martial. " Fernando Maximiliano of Hapsburg, 
Archduke of Austria," was arraigned, with Miguel 
Miramon and Tomas Mejia as particejjs criminis, on 
charges of filibustering, treason, and putting forth 
the Decree of October third, 1865. Nothing was said 
in the process about an order, issued as lately as the 
fifth of the preceding February, for the prompt exe- 
cution of Juarez and his ministers should they fall 



THE CONFLICT 279 

into tiie hands of the Imperialists, though that order 
was then actually in the hands of the President. The 
process against Maximilian was not actuated by a 
spirit of revenge. 

The conduct of Maximilian throughout these scenes 
was heroic, and such as to awaken the interest and 
attract the sympathy of the entire world. He had 
been a weak ruler, the dupe of more than one unprin- 
cipled person, and the tool of those who were seeking 
to overthrow constitutional government in Mexico. 
But he was a brave and noble prince. Too ill to be 
present at the trial, he placed his defence in the 
hands of Mariano Riva Palacio (the noted Republican 
who had declined a place in his Council), and gave 
his attention to the arrangement of his worldly 
affairs in the prospect of death. He made several 
propositions to leave the country, but they were not 
accepted. 

Senor Riva Palacio, with the assistance of other 
distinguished lawyers, did all in his power to save 
his unfortunate client, but without success. The 
court-martial, sitting from 10 A. M. on the fourteenth 
of June until 10 p. M. on the fifteenth, brought in a 
verdict of guilty, and fixed the death penalty. The 
death sentence was approved at once by the General 
of the army, and the execution was ordered to take 
place the next day. It was postponed, by telegram 
from Juarez, until the nineteenth. 

In the interval, every effort possible was made to 
save the life of the unfortunate prisoners. Senor Riva 
Palacio went to San Luis Potosi to plead with the 
President. The Princess Salm-Salm rode across the 
country, a hundred and twenty miles, on a similar 
errand. Those who were in San Luis Potosi at the 



280 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

time tell how the President suffered during his inter- 
views with those who pleaded for the lives of the 
condemned men. Although personally inclined to 
show clemency, it seemed to Juarez necessary to 
strike a decisive blow in behalf of the maintenance 
of the Republic. The possibility of Mexico's having 
to go through similar bitter experiences was to be 
obviated at all cost. "Now or never," said Lerdo de 
Tejada, "we must consolidate the Republic." Juarez 
felt that he was compelled by stern necessity to take 
the life of the noble Maximilian and of his two com- 
panions in arms. "If all the kings and queens of 
Europe were prostrate before me, I could not save 
the life for which you plead," he said to those who 
approached him. " I do not take it. It is the law, — 
the people demand it, not I. If I fail to do the will 
of the people, my life would justly be the penalty." 

A protest from the United States government was 
also received, but all to no avail. Maximilian sent 
in an appeal, not on his own behalf but on behalf of 
his companions in misfortune, which met with no 
better success. 

On the morning of the nineteenth of June, at 
seven o'clock, the stern sentence of the court-mar- 
tial was executed upon Maximilian, Miramon, and 
Mejia, upon the Cerro de las Campanas, the spot 
where Maximilian had surrendered to the Army of 
the Republic. The bright dream of Napoleon III., 
of the establishment of an Empire in the New 
World, was at an end. The Republic of Mexico 
was triumphant. 

It has been customary to blame Juarez for this 
apparently needless taking of the life of the noble- 



THE CONFLICT 281 

hearted but weak Maximilian. But it would seem, 
upon carefully looking at all the circumstances, that 
it was the great occasion in the life of Benito Juarez 
when he was to be pitied rather than blamed, and 
that throughout that trying period he was acting 
contrary to his own inclinations, and in obedience to 
what he regarded as the stern law of duty and neces- 
sity. He may have erred in his judgment as to the 
necessities of the case, but he was honest as to his 
convictions, and he had the courage to act in accord- 
ance therewith, even though the penalty was to bear 
the odium of having needlessly executed the death- 
sentence. 

If we are to look at the matter from the standpoint 
of Juarez, we must take into account his whole 
career, give due weight to the tasks he had assumed, 
and consider what must have appeared to him the 
probable result of his leniency to the most important 
personage he had ever held in his power. He could 
be lenient with any one else with less risk to the 
future welfare of his country. He had taught stern 
lessons to conspirators in the Conservative and Reac- 
tionary parties ; it was absolutely necessary to extend 
the lesson, and show that conspirators were not to be 
allowed to succeed even though they used a European 
prince for their foil. Nor were foreign princes hence- 
forth to think it safe to lend themselves as tools for 
the schemers against constitutional government in 
Mexico, or to be carried away with the glamour of 
an imagined monarchy in the " Halls of the Monte- 
zumas." It was necessary that Emperors, and Em- 
perors' sons, be taught that they could not join with 
impunity in plots against the independence of a 
nation. Neither high admiration for the virtues of 



282 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIO 

the Archduke, nor pity for his sufferings, should 
blind our eyes to the baneful consequences that must 
have ensued from the suppression of independence 
and nationality in Mexico. It was a disagreeable 
lesson which the New World had to teach the Old, 
and we may pity rather than blame the master who 
had the courage to teach it. 

Diaz, in the south, had gained possession of 
Puebla, had defeated Marquez, and dispersed the 
soldiers of the latter. He had followed up his ad- 
vantage by advancing and laying siege to the capital. 
He was joined by part of the army from the north, 
after the fall of Queretaro. The capital surrendered 
on the twenty-first of June. Marquez hid himself 
from the fury of the citizens, from whom he had 
kept all knowledge of the fall of Queretaro, and upon 
whom he had inflicted his accustomed cruelties. He 
-succeeded in escaping to Habana. Vidaurri, the 
traitor, was discovered in hiding, and, without the 
formality of a trial, was executed. 

With the indisputable title of having saved the 
honor, the independence, and the national dignity 
of Mexico, Juarez returned to the City of Mexico on 
the fifth of July, 1867, and established the seat of his 
government in its proper place. His moderation in 
dealing v/ith the conquered enemies of the govern- 
ment was in striking contrast with the conduct of 
Conservatives and Reactionaries whenever they had 
been triumphant. It promised well for constitutional 
government. The Imperialist chiefs, and their fol- 
lowers to the number of about two hundred, were 
imprisoned in old conventual houses until they could 
be regularly tried; but only nineteen were executed, 



THE CONFLICT 283 

and these were guilty of more than political offences. 
Among them was General Tomas O'Horan, who had 
proved treacherous at the time of Ocampo's assassi- 
nation. There was but little confiscation of property, 
and the Constitutional Government directed its ener- 
gies toward the repair of the evils wrought by the 
war. 

Before the end of the year, the body of Maximilian 
was requested on behalf of his family; and after a 
delay, in which it was necessary for the New World, 
through Benito Juarez, the Indian President of 
Mexico, to teach another lesson to the Old World, — 
a lesson in diplomacy and international courtesy, — 
the body was delivered to an Admiral of the Austrian 
Navy, and was taken to Vienna. There it was re- 
ceived with Imperial honors, and entombed in the 
vaults of the Capuchin Monaster}% 



284 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE RESTORED REPUBLIC AND THE DEATH 
OF JUAREZ 

BY the triumph of the Republic over the Em- 
pire, Benito Juarez reached the pinnacle of 
his fame, and vindicated his right to be re- 
garded as the greatest of national heroes of Mexico 
up to that time. His name was already a household 
word throughout his own country, and was well 
known in Europe. Europeans, however, having lent 
too ready an ear to tales related for political effect by 
Conservatives and Reactionaries, and having been 
remiss in more honest efforts to learn the character 
of the man, did him an injustice in regarding him as 
an Indian savage, "less civilized than Theodore of 
Abyssinia," and as quite capable of devising a plot 
to "exterminate the entire white population of 
Mexico " and to sell a part of the territory to the 
United States. 

His return to the capital, in 1867, after an absence 
of five years, furnishes an opportunity to pay some- 
what closer attention to his personality than has been 
permitted heretofore in the course of this history; 
and without some knowledge of this man's person- 
ality it is impossible to understand the 'history of the 
struggle for constitutional government in Mexico. 
He was now in the sixty-second year of his age, 
though in his personal appearance giving little indi- 
cation of his years, as was characteristic of persons 



THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 285 

of his race. A somewhat stoical temperament, a 
reserve in matters of public importance, coolness and 
self-possession in the face of danger, patient endur- 
ance of adversity, dignified courtesy at all times — ■ 
these were other racial characteristics which he pos- 
sessed to a marked degree. 

He was short of stature, but of powerful frame, 
like most of the Zapotecans, and had small hands and 
feet. His was a "very dark complexioned Indian 
face, which was not disfigured, but on the contrary 
made more interesting, by a very large scar across it. 
He had black piercing eyes, and gave the impression 
of a man reflecting much and deliberating long and 
carefully before acting." His dress was that of the 
Mexican student or professional man — plain black 
broadcloth, unrelieved by any official or military 
insignia. This placed him in such striking contrast 
with the brilliant dress affected by other Mexican 
officials, who were, almost to a man, military officers, 
and with the foreign diplomats with whom he came 
in contact, that he was known in semi-diplomatic 
language as "The President in the Black Coat." 
While other public men in Mexico had military titles, 
he preferred to be known simply as Ciudadano — 
Citizen. 

They were greatly mistaken who supposed him 
deficient in mental acquirements. He was able to 
write French with ease; and could read English, 
though he never attempted to speak it. He was 
well read in Constitutional law. History was his 
favorite study. He received the degree of Doctor 
of Civil Law from his alma mater^ and the honor was 
worthily conferred. His state papers were models of 
clearness and exact style. 



286 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

The conduct of the Church in Mexico had been 
such as to embitter him against that phase of religion 
which manifests itself wholly in institutionalism. 
On the subject of personal religion he maintained 
such an impenetrable reserve as to make it impos- 
sible to say to what extent he was a religious man. 
He was doubtless affected by the reaction from the 
devoteeism, at one time so prevalent in Mexico, and 
represented by men of the Santa Anna stamp, ■ — a 
reaction that carried many of the public men into 
religious indifferentism, if not agnosticism. Juarez 
was excommunicated by the Church in which he was 
born and for whose ministry he was at first intended. 
He never sought to have the ban of excommunication 
removed. He instituted in Mexico a policy of reli- 
gious toleration; and not imlikely, could the influ- 
ences of a purer form of Christianity than what he 
saw around him have extended to him, he might 
have sought to give his religion some expressive 
form. His attitude toward the Church of Rome 
probably gave some color of vengefulness to the 
measures of reform which he advanced; but they 
were in reality actuated by his regard for the rights 
of man and the welfare of the State. He had an 
innate sense of justice, and desired to see the privi- 
leges which the Church was enjoying at the people's 
cost restored to the people to whom they properly 
belonged. Even Maximilian, devotee of the Church 
though he was, bore frequent testimony to the wis- 
dom of Juarez's statesmanship and to the justice of 
his measures in regard to the Church. 

Despite the Decree of January, 1862, and his 
refusal to interfere to suspend the law in the case of 
Maximilian, and despite the seeming hardness of his 



THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 287 

Indian nature, Benito Juarez was a humane man, 
rising in that respect far above the average of Mexi- 
can public men of his time. He sought to prevent 
the execution of the death sentence upon Robles, 
though that sentence was justified under the circum- 
stances by the rules of war in any civilized land. 
There is small doubt that he would have been glad 
of Maximilian's escape could it have been effected 
without any dereliction on his part. Vengeance was 
foreign to his nature. Bloodshed was no part of his 
policy. After the close of the War of the Reform, 
he was provoked to no reprisals by the constant 
cruelties and reckless military executions which had 
characterized the conduct of his savage opponents; 
and there is no act of wanton bloodshed or popular 
vengeance chargeable upon the successful party in 
that struggle. He was the author of more than one 
decree of amnesty at times when he had his enemies 
in his power. The French prisoners taken at Puebla, 
in 1862, were sent to the French camp under safe 
conduct; their wounded were cared for; their medals 
and decorations were restored to them, and money 
was provided them for their expenses. While in 
Paso del Norte, and his government was at its 
lowest ebb, Juarez, who was in other matters a poor 
financier, managed to despatch more than twenty 
thousand dollars to France for the relief of the 
Mexican prisoners taken to that country by the 
French after the fall of Puebla in 1863. 

Juarez stood out conspicuously in the history of 
Mexico as a thoroughly honest and incorruptible 
man. He was thus placed in striking contrast with 
the representatives of some of the European nations 
with whom he was called upon to treat in 1862. Not 



288 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

the least difficult of the tasks which confronted him 
in his public career, and in his efforts to establish 
constitutional government, was that of maintaining 
a high standard of morality in his administration. 
The public men of Mexico, who had been trained in 
the old Spanish school of politics, or in the later 
school of Santa Anna, were accustomed to no such 
distinctions between right and wrong as the new 
Constitution presupposed or as Juarez in his govern- 
ment made. They were incapable of appreciating 
the nice distinctions between honesty and fraud being 
constantly made by their Indian President. The 
robbing of the conducta at Laguna Seca, in 1860, 
by Degollado, was an ordinary transaction in the 
history of Mexico — quite characteristic, indeed, of 
the Zuloaga-Miramon-Marquez regime. But it was 
absolutely unique in the administration of Benito 
Juarez, who was deeply mortified by it and did all 
in his power to make apology and restitution. 

Juarez was a patriot. Love of country, and the 
desire to set her far forward toward the realization of 
the destiny which he felt to be hers by nature and by 
the will of Providence, actuated his whole life and 
engaged all his energies of body and mind. It took 
strange forms sometimes, — as, for example, at the 
breaking out of the war with the Interventionists, 
when he refused all offers of foreign troops for his 
army, declaring that he would invite no foreigner to 
shoot down men who, though in rebellion against 
Mexico, were yet citizens of that nation. 

Simple in his tastes, not personally ambitious, 
deprecating pomp or display, Benito Juarez gave his 
life to the effort to set law above force in Mexico, and 
served his country in honorable poverty in the Chief 



THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 289 

Magistracy for thirteen years, the greater part of the 
time an exile from his capital. 

In August, 1867, Juarez called for a general elec- 
tion for Members of Congress and for President. 
The election was to determine the propriety of his 
action in continuing in the Presidency in Paso del 
Norte after the expiration of his former term of office. 
He was elected over Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and 
Porfirio Diaz, and his action at Paso del Norte was 
thereby fully sustained. He began a new constitu- 
tional term in the Presidency, upon his installation 
in that office in December. 

It might seem that the country had now had its 
fill of revolutions and pronunciamentos, and was 
ready to cooperate with the President in an effort to 
maintain peace and constitutional government. But 
the administration of Juarez was much disturbed by 
revolutionary attempts made by. those who were still 
under the spell of the ancient Spanish methods of 
"practical politics." Santa Anna entered the Re- 
public with no very honorable intentions, we may be 
sure. He was taken prisoner and sentenced to be 
shot, but was allowed to escape, and returned to the 
place of his former exile. Probably the measure by 
which Juarez himself would have preferred that his 
administration of the government from 1867 to 1871 
should be best known was his decree of General 
Amnesty. Under its provisions, even Santa Anna 
was enabled to return to Mexico and spend the re- 
mainder of his days at the capital. 

As the electoral campaign of 1871 approached, 
Juarez was advised by many of his best friends to 
decline a reelection. They urged that, inestimable 

19 



290 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

as was the value of the services he had rendered in 
securing the Constitution and in maintaining the 
government of Mexico thereunder during the period 
of stress and storm from 1861 to 1867, he was not 
a pronounced success in the administration of the 
Presidency. His preeminent quality — adherence to 
a great principle in the face of opposition — did not 
especially fit him for the task of building upon the 
foundation he had laid. He was blind to the actual 
needs of the nation, it was said. His mind was giv- 
ing way, some alleged, — and such might well have 
been the case, in one who had passed through all that 
he had suffered. He remained, however, firm in the 
belief that his presence in the administration was 
necessary for the continuance of the effort to maintain 
good government in Mexico, and prevent a suspen- 
sion of the Constitution which had been established 
at so much cost. He therefore entered as a candidate 
against the same opponents as four years previously. 
The contest was an exciting one, and his election 
was extremely close. Congress met on the sixteenth 
of September, and it was not until the twelfth of 
October that Juarez was officially declared elected 
by the vote of a plurality of the States. Pronun- 
ciamentos followed, but Juarez, with indomitable 
energy, confronted every attempt to overthrow the 
Constitution and return to the former methods of 
governing the country by force. 

On the seventeenth day of July, 1872, he who had 
never before known more than a day's sickness, was 
taken suddenly ill with heart disease. Near mid- 
night on the eighteenth he died. Two days later 
the body was taken to the National Palace, where it 
lay in state, under guard of government officials, and 



THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 291 

was visited by throngs of Mexicans of all classes. On 
the twenty-second it was borne through the streets of 
the capital, followed by five thousand people, and laid 
to rest in the Panteon of San Fernando. There, over 
the dust of Benito Juarez, now rests an exquisitely 
sculptured marble group representing the grief of 
Mexico over the death of her great national hero. 
Thither, on the eighteenth of July every year, lovers 
of constitutional government go to rehearse the story 
of his noble and devoted life, and of how through his 
efforts the Constitution of Mexico came into being. 
And it is well that this annual pilgrimage be made, 
and this commemoration be observed, lest in the 
midst of the prosperity and peace, and the national 
greatness to which they have recently attained and 
the progress they are now making, the people of 
Mexico forget how much of all this is due to the 
Zapotecan who spent his life in an honorable endeavor 
to give a Constitution and Constitutional Government 
to a previously misgoverned land. 



292 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 



CHAPTER XV 

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT BEARING 

FRUITS 

JUAREZ had not been inducted into office in 
December, 1871, without a formal protest from 
Porfirio Diaz, whose action in regard thereto — 
taking the name of the " Plan de Noria " — might 
be regarded as revolutionary and reactionary. His 
proposition was to avoid threatened evils by conven- 
ing an Assembly of Notables, and to reorganize the 
government. The movement collapsed with the death 
of Juarez, who was immediately succeeded in the 
Presidency by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, the Presi- 
dent of the Supreme Court of Justice, and constitu- 
tional successor to the Presidency. 

Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, like his brother Miguel, 
was a scholar and a gentleman. He had long been 
identified with the struggle for constitutional govern- 
ment, and was, as we have seen, one of the "Im- 
maculates " of the fugitive government of Juarez. 
He had been perhaps unpleasantly influential in that 
government in the trying time when it had the con- 
demned Austrian Archduke to dispose of. In the 
subordinate positions he had occupied under Juarez, 
he passed readily for a statesman and a patriot. But 
both statesmanship and patriotism failed to stand the 
severe test to which his sudden call to the Presidency 
subjected them. 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 293 

Nor was he the man to lead turbulent Mexicans on 
to an appreciation of the blessings they might enjoy- 
under constitutional government. He was somewhat 
under the spell of the old system. He sought at 
first to maintain the policy of Juarez, and retained 
his cabinet, which was something of an affront to 
the leaders of the movement under the "Plan de 
Noria." He looked upon Porfirio Diaz from the 
start as a dangerous rival, and had him proscribed. 
He tried to strengthen himself in the affection of the 
people by a Decree of General Amnesty, and then 
ordered a special election. He thus began a consti- 
tutional term of four years in the Presidency, in 
December, 1872. 

For three years his administration was tolerated, 
and the country was quiet and progressive. His 
contribution to the history of Constitutional revision 
was the adoption of the following Reform laws as 
Amendments to the Constitution on the twenty-fifth 
of September, 1873. 

"Article 1. The State and the Church are independent 
of one another. Congress may not pass laws establish- 
ing or prohibiting any religion. 

" Art. 2. Marriage is a civil contract. This and the 
other acts relating to the civil state of persons belong 
to the exclusive jurisdiction of the functionaries and 
authorities of the civil order, within limits provided by 
laws, and they shall have the force and validity which 
the same attribute to them. 

"Art. 3. No religious institution may acquire real 
estate or capital fixed upon it, with the single exception 
established in Article 27 of this Constitution. 

"Art. 4. The simple promise to speak the truth and to 
comply with the obligations which have been incurred, 



294 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

shall be substituted for the religious oath, with its effects 
and penalties." 

And to Article 5 of the original Constitution were 
added the words: 

"The law, consequently, may not recognize monastic 
orders, nor may it permit their establishment, whatever 
may be the denomination or object with which they claim 
to be formed." 

The immediate effect of these additions to the Con- 
stitution was the suppression of the last remaining 
religious order in Mexico — the Sisters of Charity. 

It was evident, as the expiration of his term of 
office drew near, that Lerdo was preparing to secure 
a reelection. It was alleged also that his administra- 
tion had lost the confidence of the Mexican people. 
It had been guilty of gross abuses under certain elec- 
tion laws, the passage of which it had secured. It 
had subverted the Federal system and reestablished 
Centralism. It was charged with corruption in the 
granting of subsidies and franchises to railroads, with 
reckless financiering in refunding the English debt, 
and with jeopardizing the territory to the United 
States. A remedy for the evils thus alleged to have 
been brought upon the country was not to be secured 
by pacific means, owing to the outrageous manner in 
which the elections were conducted. There were 
hints, also, that Lerdo had taken at least the sub- 
diaconate in the Church, and was hence ineligible to 
the Presidency under Article 77 of the Constitution, 
which says that the President shall '" not belong to 
the ecclesiastical order." 

The days of "Plans" and pronunciamentos had 
not fully passed; for in January, 1876, the "Plan 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 295 

de Tuxtepec " was put forth in the State of Oaxaca, 
and by midsummer the whole country was again in a 
state of revolution. General Porfirio Diaz appeared 
upon the scene early in April, emerging from a place 
of exile not far from the Rio Grande. The last of 
the "Plans," as indorsed by him, furnishes a fair 
specimen of this class of pronunciamentos, which has 
played such a prominent part in the history of Mexico. 
It was as follows : 

"Article 1. The Supreme law of the Republic shall be 
the Constitution of 1857, the Reform act promulgated 
September 25, 1873, and the Law of December 14, 1874. 

"Art. 2. The same law making the President and 
Governors of the States ineligible to the same position 
will be maintained, this being a measure of constitutional 
reform which we agree to sustain by all the legal means 
afforded to us by the Constitution. 

"Art. 3. We repudiate Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada 
as President of the Republic, and all those persons 
employed by him or occupying positions under him, 
or elected at the elections of July, 1875. 

"Art. 4. All State Governments adhering to this Plan 
will be recognized ; those refusing to do so will be placed 
under a provisional government to be appointed by the 
executive officer of the army. 

"Art. 5. The election of the officers of the Union will 
be held two months after the capture of the capital of the 
Republic, at such places as the Executive shall appoint 
one month after the capture, and will be held under the 
election laws of February 12, 1857, and October 23, 
1872. At the time appointed for the interior elections. 
Congress shall assemble, and shall proceed immediately 
to carry out the provisions of Article 51 of the first-men- 
tioned laws, in order that the constitutional President of 
the Republic may enter upon the discharge of the func- 



296 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

tions of his office, and that the supreme tribunal may be 
installed. 

"Art. 6. The executive powers, except those which 
are purely administrative, will be conferred during the 
elections upon the President of the Supreme Court of 
Justice, or upon the magistrate discharging the duties of 
his office, provided they shall have accepted in all their 
parts and provisions the conditions of this Plan, and 
shall have signified their said acceptance by publishing 
the same in the public press within one month from the 
day the said Plan shall have been published in the news- 
papers of the capital. The neglect or refusal on the part 
of the functionary will invest the chief military officer of 
that State with the powers of chief executive." 

The situation was complicated by a pronunciamento 
issued by Iglesias, President of the Supreme Court 
of Justice, whose argument was that if Lerdo were 
not President he was his constitutional successor. 
Iglesias attempted to establish his government in 
Guanajuato, and it seemed for a time that Mexico 
had gone back to the old unhappy days of rival parties 
and revolutions. The three new parties received the 
names of "Lerdistas," " Porfiristas, " and " Iglesistas, " 
respectively. 

Diaz took command of the revolutionary army, and 
pursued an energetic and finally successful campaign. 
The decisive battle was fought at Tecoac, in the 
autumn of 1876, and the victory was with the 
" Porfiristas." The " Iglesistas " promptly collapsed. 
Lerdo fled to the United States, taking with him 
some of the public funds. General Diaz advanced 
to the capital in November, and was proclaimed 
Provisional President. The following April he was 
elected " Constitutional " President, and was so 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 297 

formally declared by Congress for a term ending 
November 30, 1880. 

There is, of course, much reasonable doubt as to 
the legality of the steps by which the Presidency of 
General Porfirio Diaz was brought about. The career 
of this wonderful man, who was now at the head of 
affairs, reflects much of the history of his country at 
the time the struggle for constitutional government 
was going on, and explains many of the strange fea- 
tures of a movement by which a man attaining to 
power by means that can only be called unconsti- 
tutional, and subversive of all law, should finally 
establish constitutional government in his land. 

Diaz was a Oaxacan, born on the anniversary of 
the Grito de Dolores^ in 1830. Through his mother 
he derived some Indian blood. Like many of his 
time, he was at first intended for the Church; but at 
an early age he volunteered for service in the war 
with the United States, though he was not sent to 
the front. He then decided upon a career at the 
bar, took a four years' course at the Institute with 
which Juarez was connected, and, entering the law- 
office of Juarez, became Professor of Roman Law in 
his alma mater. In war and politics, he took lessons 
under Herrera in the revolt against Santa Anna. He 
received honorable wounds on the side of good gov- 
ernment in the little wars waged in the neighborhood 
of Oaxaca, until he got a Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and 
finally came to be Chief of a Brigade in the War of 
the Reform. The bare record of his military exploits, 
wounds, captures, and escapes, in the War of the 
Reform and in that of the Intervention, would read 
like a romance. 

As the Empire fell to pieces, the effort was twice 



\ 



298 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

made by the Imperialists to make Diaz President. 
But Diaz was loyal to the Republic as established 
under the Constitution of 1857, and to his friend and 
early benefactor Benito Juarez. After the fall of 
Queretaro he secured the surrender of the City of 
Mexico, and prepared for the return of Juarez to his 
capital. He then retired to his estate of " La Noria," 
in the State of Oaxaca. The " Progresistas " made 
him their candidate for the Presidency, against 
Juarez, in 1867 ; but he made little effort on behalf 
of his election. When, however, Juarez was re- 
elected in 1871, and showed a laxity about the 
reforms which he had promised to institute, and 
gave further evidence of failing powers, Diaz pro- 
tested in the famous pronunciamento, or "Plan de 
Noria." Friendly as he was with Juarez, he placed 
the principles for which Juarez stood before Juarez 
himself. 

It would have been remarkable indeed if, when the 
"Plan de Tuxtepec " was proclaimed, it had failed 
to appeal to Porfirio Diaz. It would have been 
remarkable indeed if such a man had failed to see, in 
the course events were taking, the great opportunity 
for Mexico to establish constitutional government 
permanently. He was by training a military strate- 
gist. His mind was trained to seek ends, irrespective 
of the means employed. To secure the vantage-point 
from which to render the Constitution operative in 
the government of Mexico, no other course was open 
to Diaz and his followers than that which was suc- 
cessfully pursued under the "Plan de Tuxtepec." 

It may be that none of these considerations were in 
the mind of Diaz and his followers at the time, or 
until long subsequently; and in such a case the his- 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 299 

tory of Mexico is by no means unique. In other 
nations, the path to independence and to constitu- 
tional government has led through acts that were in 
themselves unconstitutional. And Mexico's training 
for national life had not been such as to prepare 
her to take in every case a course of unimpeachable 
legality. 

Whether or not these ideas were in the minds of 
Diaz and his followers before the success of the " Plan 
de Tuxtepec," it is obvious that, immediately after 
the establishment of General Diaz in the Presidency 
by means of a constitutional election, his unquestioned 
purpose was to confine every act of the government 
within the limits of the Constitution of 1857. It was 
a slow and tedious process by which the nation and 
those employed in the national government were to 
be trained up to such a course. Nor is it to be 
doubted or denied that the earlier administration of 
Diaz was full of mistakes. But nevertheless Mexico 
began forthwith to develop all the resources of a 
great and powerful nation. 

Soon the time came to furnish proofs of the inten- 
tion of the new administration to maintain the Consti- 
tution. In accordance with the "Plan de Tuxtepec," 
the Constitution was amended to inhibit the President 
from holding office for consecutive terms. When, 
in 1880, the term for which Diaz had been elected 
expired, he steadfastly adhered to his purpose of 
abiding by the constitutional provision which ren- 
dered him ineligible for a succeeding term. In vain 
was it pleaded that there were no others who could 
be trusted to carry out his schemes for constitutional 
government; he declined to allow his name to be 
exploited as a candidate for the office. There were 



300 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

no less than eight presidential candidates in the 
field; and of these, General Manuel Gonzalez — by 
no means the best of the eight — was constitutionally 
elected. 

Gonzalez was not a man of the new type of states- 
man needed in Mexico, and his administration was in 
many respects a reaction from the high principles 
which had begun to prevail. The influence of Por- 
firio Diaz was all that kept it from reverting to the 
days of Santa Anna. Diaz was for a time a member 
of the cabinet of Gonzalez, at another time Senator 
from the State of Morelos, and at another time Gov- 
ernor of Oaxaca. In each capacity he sought the 
material welfare of Mexico. The friendly relations 
cultivated with the United States, and the investment 
of American capital in railroads and other enterprises 
in Mexico, went on with success, even though the 
moral tone of the government seemed retrogressive. 

In 1884, Diaz was, with practical unanimity, re- 
elected President. But ere the administration of 
Gonzalez gave place to that of Diaz under the Con- 
stitution, an incident occurred which, while it seemed 
for a time about to engulf the country in revolution, 
gave signs of a regeneration, and that the lessons of 
the Constitution were being learned. 

Under the spell of the old system of politics, a 
measure was proposed by which the English debt was 
to be refunded. The measure was in most particulars 
acceptable to all persons interested, but there were 
certain features which were clearly in the category 
of contracts made by the government in the most 
corrupt periods of its existence. It was evidence 
of an awakened national conscience that the measure 
met with opposition when it came up for final passage 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 301 

in the Mexican Congress. And it was a healthy sign 
that the insurrection that resulted was led by the 
students of the University. The postponement of 
the measure until after the inauguration of Diaz was 
celebrated as a triumph for Los Estucliantes^ who 
obtained credit for the success of their opposition. 
Thenceforth a new element was introduced into 
national affairs. Indifferentism in the citizens had 
been an evil with which the advocates of constitu- 
tional reform in Mexico had always to contend. 
Now there was evidence that the young citizens were 
taking an interest, — that there were young men in 
course of training for an intelligent participation in 
national affairs. 

The second constitutional term of President Diaz 
was inaugurated with financial reforms which were 
in themselves an earnest of greater things to come. 
It was not very long before the finances of Mexico 
were placed upon a firm and altogether satisfactory 
basis, and the credit of the nation was recognized in 
all the exchanges of Europe. Alcahalas (local duties 
which goods of all descriptions had to pay at state and 
city boundaries), a long surviving relic of Spanish 
domination, were abolished. The whole system of 
tariff was revised and improved. Home industries 
were encouraged, and the railroad and telegraph lines, 
begun in a feeble way in the time of Juarez, were 
extended until distances were annihilated in Mexico 
as in all parts of the United States. 

Immense sums were spent upon public improve- 
ments. The improvements made in the harbor at 
Tampico increased the facilities for Mexico's foreign 
trade. The drainage canal, intended to solve the 
problem of protecting the Valley of Mexico from 



302 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

those inundations with which the Spaniards had 
begun to struggle three centuries before, was begun 
and carried to a successful termination. The agri- 
cultural resources of the country were developed, and 
manufactures were encouraged. The prison system 
was improved, and reformatories have already taken 
the place of what were in former times nests of crime 
and harbors for the criminal classes. In the re- 
organization of the army, the matter was managed 
with such statesmanship that the country was rid of 
the banditti, who now find it to their interests to 
serve the country as soldiers, with the prospect of 
promotion, rather than to pursue their nefarious call- 
ing as outcasts from society. 

But the greatest result was attained in the stimulus 
given to education. A system of public schools has 
been built up which is surpassed by nothing else- 
where in the world. It fixes a minimum of instruc- 
tion, beyond which anything that is useful and 
honorable may be taught. 

It was not at once that all this was accomplished; 
and it is, in fact, only in process of accomplishment 
at the present time. President Diaz learned, and 
the country learned with him in 1888, that in one 
important particular the " Plan de Tuxtepec " pro- 
posed a political principle that was very defective, 
and that the changes it had wrought in the Consti- 
tution of 1857 were far from desirable. Rotation in 
office might be in theory advisable in a country which 
was likely to be governed by time-serving politicians, 
and where politicians are not educated up to a sense 
of their duty and responsibility; but when reforms 
are to be instituted, and a nation is to be regenerated, 
time is required, and the work is not benefited by a 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 303 

change of administration and of policy every four 
years. And for a nation such as Mexico to learn 
self-government thoroughly, a long paternalism is 
necessary. Juarez had some such idea, but had been 
unable to put it in practice. 

So, when the second constitutional term for which 
Porfirio Diaz had been elected President drew toward 
its close, and thoughtful men who were beginning to 
have a high regard for the needs of the nation cast 
about them as to who could be found to take his place 
and carry out his work of reform, it was generally 
conceded that it would be far easier to amend the 
Constitution by eliminating the clause, added after 
the "Plan de Tuxtepec," making the President in- 
eligible for two terms in succession, and leave the 
Constitution as it was adopted in 1857. And though 
good-natured critics called attention to what they 
chose to call the inconsistency of a man's consenting 
t?) this amendment of the Constitution after he had 
come to power upon a "platform" or "plan" ex- 
pressly declaring against such a succession in office, 
yet nearly all are ready to recognize that an effort to 
be precisely "consistent" about details which stand 
in the way of progress may sometimes amount to 
stubbornness. 

So the Constitution was amended, in 1888, to allow 
a President two consecutive terms ; and in 1892 all 
limitations were abolished and the Constitution was 
made to conform in that regard with the instrument 
which was adopted in 1857, through the efforts of 
Ocampo, Gomez Farias, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, 
and Benito Juarez. In 1892, in 1896, and again in 
1900, there was no one to run against Porfirio Diaz 
for the Presidency of Mexico. Nor is it likely that 



304 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

any one will be found to compete with him for the 
Presidential office, or for his place in the popular 
regard, until he concludes that his work of reform is 
in such shape that it can be safely committed to the 
hands of another, or until death shall close one of 
the most remarkable careers of recent times. And 
it is to be greatly hoped that whoever then succeeds 
him will be a man who has learned, by close obser- 
vation of the lives of Juarez and Diaz, and of the 
course of Mexican history for the past half -century, 
what blessings are to be obtained by means of a true 
Constitutional Government. 

THE END 



APPENDIX A 305 



APPENDIX A 

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF 

PRINCIPAL EVENTS 

RELATED TO MEXICAN HISTORY 

1469. Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, union of Aragon 
and Castile, and virtual beginning of Spanish national 
history. 

1481. Inquisition established at Sevilla. 

1492. The Great Voyage of Discovery. 

1493. The Papal Bulls of Partition. 

1501. Papal Bull entitling Spanish sovereigns to tithes in the 

colonies. 
1503. Casa de Contratacion established. 
1508. Papal Bull giving to King of Spain right of collation to 

benefices in the colonies. 
1511. Consejo de las Indias instituted by Ferdinand. 

1518. Expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan. 

1519. Carlos I. of Spain elected Emperor and becomes Charles V. 

of Germany. Cortes lands in Mexico. 

1520. Retreat of Cortes from Tenochtitlan. 

1521. Tenochtitlan captured and destroyed by Cortes and vir- 

tual subjugation of Mexico. 

1522. Cortes Governor, Captain- General, and Chief Justice of 

New Spain. 

1523. Pedro de Alvarado sent by Cortes to Guatemala. 

1524. Consejo de las Indias perfected by Charles V. Arrival 

in Mexico of the Franciscan "Twelve Apostles." 

1527. Bishopric of Mexico created. Juan de Zumarraga, 

Bishop. 

1528. First Audiencia in New Spain. 

1529. Second Audiencia in New Spain. 

20 



306 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

1530. " La Puebla de los Angeles " founded in Mexico. 

1531. Alleged apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. 

1534. Four Bishoprics created in New Spain. 

1535. Antonio de Mendoza, first Viceroy of New Spain. First 

printing-press and first book published in the New 
World, in Mexico. Peninsula of Lower California 
discovered. 

1536. Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, survivors of the 

Narvaez expedition of 1528, meet Spanish explorers in 
northern Mexico. 
154:0. Expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in search 
of the " Seven Cities of Cibola." 

1541. Guadalajara founded in New Spain. 

1542. Death of De Soto on the Mississippi. Valladolid (now 

Morelia) founded in New Spain. 

1544. Las Casas Bishop of Chiapas in Mexico. 

1545. Archbishopric of Mexico created. 

1550. Mendoza promoted from vireinate of New Spain to 

that of Peru. Luis de Velasco, <'the Emancipator," 
Viceroy of New Spain. 

1551. Alonso de Montufar, Archbishop of Mexico. 

1552. Santa Hermandad established in New Spain. 

1553. University of Mexico founded. 

1556. Abdication of Carlos I. and accession of Felipe II. 

1563. City of Durango founded in New Spain. 

1566. Gaston de Peralta, Viceroy. 

1568. Martin de Enriques de Almanza, "the Inquisitor," 
Viceroy. 

1571. Inquisition established in the New World. 

1572. Arrival of the Jesuits in Mexico. 
1574. First Auto-de-fe in Mexico. 

1577. Drake lands at Bodega Bay and takes possession of Cali- 
fornia for England calling it "New Albion." 
1580. Lorenzo Juarez de Mendoza, Viceroy. 

1584. Pedro Moya de Contreras Archbishop of Mexico and 

Viceroy. 

1585. Humana's expedition into New Mexico results in the 

settlement of Paso del Norte. Alvaro Manrique de 
Zuniga, Viceroy. 
1590. Luis de Velasco, son of " the Emancipator," Marquis of 
Salinas, Viceroy. 



APPENDIX A 307 

1595. Gaspar de Zuniga y Acevedo, Count of Monterey, Viceroy. 

One of the dates assigned for the foundation of Santa 
Fe, New Mexico. 

1596. Expedition of Sebastian Viscayno along the Pacific 

coast. 
1598. Death of Felipe II. and accession of Felipe III. First 
Spanish settlement in New Mexico by Juan de Onate. 

1602. Second expedition along the Pacific coast reaches point 

two degrees north of Cape Mendocino on coast of 
California. 

1603. Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marquis of Montes Claros, 

Viceroy. 

1607. Velasco, Marquis of Salinas, Viceroy a second time. 

1608. Probable date of founding of Santa Fe. 

1612. Diego Fernandez de Cordova, Marquis of Guadalcazar, 

Viceroy. 
1621. Diego Carrillo Mendoza y Pimentel, Marquis of Gelves, 

Viceroy. 
1624. Rodrigo Pacheco Osorio, Viceroy. 
1635. Lope Diaz de Armendariz, Viceroy. 
1640. Diego Lopez Pacheco Cabrero y Bobadillo, Viceroy. 
1642. Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Bishop of Puebla and Royal 

Visitor, Viceroy for about five months and then suc- 
. ceeded by Garcia Sarmiento Sotomayor, Co ant of 

Salvatierra. 
1648. Marcos Lopez de Torres y Rueda, Bishop of Yucatan, 

Viceroy. 
1650. Luis Enriques de Guzman, Count of Alba Liste, Viceroy. 
1653. Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Viceroy. 
1660. Juan de Leiva y de la Cerda, Viceroy. 

1664. Diego Osorio Escobar y Llamas, Bishop of Puebla, 

Viceroy for a few months and then succeeded by 
Antonio Sebastian de Toledo. 

1665. Death of Felipe 11. and accession of Carlos II. 

1673. Pedro Nuno Colon de Portugal y Castro, Viceroy for 
six days and then succeeded by Fray Payo de Rivera, 
Archbishop of Mexico, who proves one of the best of 
Viceroys. 

1680. Tomas Antonio Manrique de la Cerda, Viceroy. 

1686. Melchor Portocarrerro Laso de la Vega, Count of Mon- 
clova. Viceroy. 



308 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

1688. Gaspar de la Cerda Sandoval Silva y Mendoza, Viceroy. 

1696. Juan de Ortega Montanez, Bishop of Michoacan, Viceroy, 
quickly succeeded by Jose Sarmiento Valladares, Count 
of Moctezuma (more properly Moteczuma). 

1700. Death of Carlos II., end of Hapsburg line of Spanish 

Kings; accession of Felipe V. and beginning of the 
Borbon dynasty. 

1701. Montanez, Bishop of Michoacan, Viceroy a second time, 

succeeded in a few months by Fernandez de la Cuevas 

Enriques. 
1711. Fernando Alencastro Norona y Silva, Viceroy. 
1716. Baltasar de Zuniga Guzman Sotomayor y Mendoza, 

Viceroy. 
1718. Casa de Contracion transferred to Cadiz. 
1722. Juan de Acuna, Viceroy. 
1734. Juan Antonio de Vizarron y Eguiarreta, Archbishop of 

Mexico, Viceroy. 

1740. Pedro de Castro Figueroa y Salazar, Viceroy. 

1741. Jose Antonio Villasenor y Sanchez, " Cosmographer of 

New Spain." 

1742. Pedro Cebrian y Agustin, Viceroy. 

1746. Death of Felipe V. and accession of Fernando VI. Juan 

Francisco de Guemes y Horcasitas, Viceroy. 

1747. City of Mexico reported by Villasenor, the " Cosmogra- 

pher," to contain fifty thousand families of Europeans 
and Creoles, forty thousand Meztizos, mixed castes and 
negroes, and eight thousand Indians. 
1755. Agustin de Ahumada y Villalon, Viceroy, 

1759. Death of Fernando VI. and accession of Carlos III. 

1760. Francisco Cajigal de la Vega, ex-Governor of Cuba, 

Viceroy for a short time, succeeded by Joaquin de 
Monserrat. 
1763. Louisiana acquired by Spain. 

1766. Carlos Francisco de Croix, Viceroy. 

1767. Expulsion of Jesuits from Spain and Spanish America. 
1771. Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua, Viceroy; the best 

of rulers in New Spain. 
1779. Martin de Mayorga, Governor of Guatemala, becomes 

Viceroy. 
1783. Matias de Galvez, "the Diligent," Viceroy. 
1785. Bernardo de Galvez, Viceroy. 



APPENDIX A 309 

1787. Alonso Nunez de Haro y Peralta, Archbishop of Mexico, 

Viceroy for a few months; succeeded by Manuel An- 
tonio Flores, Governor of Bogota. 

1788. Death of Carlos III. and accession of Carlos IV. 

1789. Juan Vicente Pacheco de Padilla, Viceroy. 
1794. Miguel de la Grua Talamanca, Viceroy. 

1798. Miguel Jose de Azanza, " the Bonapartist," Viceroy. 

1800. Felix Berenguer de Marquina, Viceroy. 

1801. Retrocession to France of Louisiana by secret treaty. 
1803. Jose de Iturrigaray, " the Monarchist," Viceroy. 

1808. Intervention of Napoleon Bonaparte in Spanish affairs. 

Revolution in Spain. Abdication of Carlos IV. and 
accession of Fernando VII. Joseph Bonaparte usurps 
the throne. National revolt and establishment of 
Juntas. English Alliance and Peninsula War. Iturri- 
garay deposed and Pedro Garibay, " the Revolutionist," 
made Viceroy ad interim. 

1809. Francisco Javier Lizana, Archbishop of Mexico, Viceroy. 

1810. Pedro Catani, President of Audiencia, Viceroy ad interim, 

succeeded by Francisco Javier Venegas. Grito de 
Dolores (September 16). 

1811. Execution of Hidalgo and other Revolutionists. 

1812. Liberal Constitution in Spain. 

1813. Congress of Chilpantzingo. Mexican Declaration of In- 

dependence and first Mexican Constitution. 

1814. Release of Fernando VII. from captivity. Absolutism 

reestablished in Spain. 

1815. Capture and execution of Jose Maria Morelos, — " the last 

victim of the Inquisition." 

1816. Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, '' the Unfortunate," Viceroy. 

1817. Freebooting expedition of Mina into Mexico. 

1820. Restoration of Constitution of 1812 in Spain. Inquisi- 

tion finally abolished. Vicente Guerrero becomes 
formidable Independent chief in Mexico. 

1821. Francisco de Novella, Viceroy ad interim. Plan de Iguala 

and Treaty of Cordoba. Independence of Mexico. 
Iturbide, the Liberator. Regency installed. Juan 
O'Donoju, the last of the Viceroys. 

1822. Mexican Congress organized. Borbonista, Republican 

and Iturbidista political parties formed. Iturbide, 
Emperor. 



310 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

1823. Abdication of Iturbide and collapse of the First Mexican 

Empire. Centralist and Federalist parties formed. 
Monroe Doctrine proclaimed. 

1824. Federal Constitution proclaimed. Mexican United States 

organized. Guadalupe Victoria, President. 

1828. Yorkino and Escoces party names become prominent. 

Kise of High Liberal or Radical, Conservative and 
Moderate parties. Election of Manuel Gomez Pedraza 
as President. 

1829. Vicente Guerrero proclaimed President. Spain's effort 

to reclaim Mexico. Jose Maria Bocanegra, , Acting 
President. 

1830. Anastasio Bustamante, President. 

1832. Melchor Muzquiz, Acting President. Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna, President; Valentin Gomez Farias, Vice- 
President. 

183i. Gomez Farias proclaims programme of Government Re- 
forms. 

1835. Constitution of " Las Siete Leyes " replaces Constitution 

of 1824. Central Republic established. 

1836. New Constitution proclaimed. General Barragan, Act-. 

ing President, followed by Jose Justo Corro as Acting 
President. Spaui acknowledges the Independence of 
Mexico. Revolt of Texas. 

1837. Anastasio Bustamante, President. 

1840. Gutierrez de Estrada's letter proposing an Empire/ 

1841. Santa Anna, Provisional President. 

1842. Javier Echavarria, Acting President pending the Plan de 

Tacubaya; succeeded by Santa Anna, Provisional 
President. 

1843. Bases Organicas Politicas de la Republica Mexicana and 

final centralization of the government. 

1845. Revolutions culminate in deposition and impeachment 

of Santa Anna and elevation of Jose Joaquin Herrera 
to the Presidency. Annexation of Texas to the United 
States. War between Mexico and the United States. 

1846. Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, President with Monarchical 

tendencies. Advance of General Taylor to Monterey. 
California and New Mexico captured by the United 
States. Paredes succeeded by Nicolas Bravo and the 
latter by Mariano Salas, pending the election of Santa 
Anna as President. 



APPENDIX A 311 

1847. Presidential functions exercised by Santa Anna, Gomez 

Farias, and others. Constitution of 1824 in force for 
a short time. American army under General Scott 
advance from Yera Cruz to the Capital. 

1848. Jose Joaquin Herrera elected President. Treaty of Gua- 

dalupe-Hidalgo ends war with the United States. 

1851. Mariano Arista, President. 

1852. Juan Bautista Ceballos, President, succeeded by Manuel 

Maria Lombardini as Acting President. 

1853. Santa Anna, President, — Absolutism triumphant. Santa 

Anna decrees himself Perpetual Dictator. 

1854. General Juan Alvarez pronounces in Acapulco. Plan 

de Ayotla proclaimed. Final deposition and exile of 
Santa Anna. 

1855. Alvarez Provisional President under Plan de Ayotla, 

succeeded by Ignacio Comonfort. Ley Juarez pro- 
claimed. 

1856. Ley Lerdo proclaimed. Constituent Congress adopts 

*' Estatico Organico Provisional de la Kepublica Mexi- 
cana," as tentative Constitution. 

1857. Final Constitution adopted and Ignacio Comonfort elected 

and installed as Constitutional President. Reactionary 
movement headed by Felix Zuloaga. 

1858. Comonfort abandons Presidency and is succeeded by 

Benito Juarez as Constitutional President. Reaction- 
aries elect Zuloaga and he, Miguel Miramon and others 
attempt to control the Presidential ofl&ce and are known 
as Anti-Presidents. 

1859. Juarez finally establishes his government in Vera Cruz. 

War of the Reform. 

1860. Juarez issues Reform Decrees from Yera Cruz. Decisive 

Battle of Calpulalpam, collapse of Reactionaries, and 
return of Juarez and Constitutionalists to the capital. 

1861. Juarez constitutionally elected President. Decree sus- 

pending for two years' payment of foreign debts. 
Forces of England, France, and Spain arrive in Yera 
Cruz to carry out provisions of Treaty of London. 

1862. Convention of Soledad and Conference at Orizaba. 

Treaty of London dissolved. England and Spain with- 
draw from Mexico. French army advances and is 
defeated at Puebla in battle of Cinco de Mayo. 



312 FROM EMPIRE TO REP<TBLIG 

1863. French capture Puebla and advance to the capital. 

Republican government retires to San Luis Potosi, 
thence to Saltillo, and thence to Monterey. French 
organize government at capital and elect Maximilian 
of Austria Emperor. 

1864. Maximilian arrives in Mexico. Juarez at Chihuahua. 

1865. Juarez at Paso del Norte. United States Government 

demands withdravi^al of French troops from Mexico. 
Maximilian's famous decree of October 3. 

1866. Withdrawal of French troops from ISTorth of Mexico. 

Republican forces, recruited and re-organized, advance 
toward the South. Juarez returns to Chihuahua. 

1867. French troops withdraw from Mexico. Collapse of the 

Second Mexican Empire. Execution of Maximilian. 
Juarez returns to the capital and is re-elected Constitu- 
tional President. 

1871. Juarez again elected Constitutional President. 

1872. Death of Juarez and accession of Sebastian Lerdo de 

Tejada to the Presidency. 

1873. Reform Laws incorporated in the Constitution of 1857. 

1876. Successful Plan de Tuxtepec and Provisional Presidency 

of Porfirio Diaz. 

1877. Porfirio Diaz elected Constitutional President. 
1880. Manuel Gonzales elected Constitutional President. 
1884. Porfirio Diaz elected Constitutional President. 
1888, 1892, 1896, 1900. Diaz again elected President. 



APPENDIX B 313 



APPENDIX B 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Abbott, Gorham D. Mexico and the United States : their 

Mutual Relations and their Common Interest. N'ew York, 

1869. 
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316 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

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APPENDIX B 317 

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318 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

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APPENDIX B 321 

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21 



322 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

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APPENDIX G 325 



APPENDIX 

NOTES ON THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 
OF MEXICO 

A STUDY of the historical geography of Mexico properly 
begins with a consideration of Spain's possessions on the North 
American continent prior to the year 1821. 

It was about the middle of the eighteenth century that Span- 
ish territory in North America reached its maximum extent. 
With the changes which subsequently took place in the north- 
ern boundaries on the Atlantic coast, we have little to do, for 
Florida was not a part of New Spain. On the Pacific coast, 
Spain claimed all the territory from Panama to Prince William's 
Sound, though no permanent settlements had been made north 
of San Francisco. By the Treaty of Nootka (1790), to which 
Spain and England were parties, the former renounced all sov- 
ereignty to the North Pacific coast. Subsequently (1795), she 
fixed the limits of her territory on what is now the northern 
boundary of California. 

By the Treaty of Ildefonso in 1802, Spain gave up to France 
the Territory of Louisiana, which had been hers since 1760. 
Napoleon, the following year, sold Louisiana to the United 
States. Spain and France were at the time rival claimants to 
the territory lying west of the Sabine River in Texas, and the 
United States succeeded, by the terms of the purchase, to the 
claim of France in that territory. It was not until 1819 that 
the boundary line between the United States and the northern 
provinces of New Spain was established, and then it was as one 
of the terms of the Treaty by which the United States effected 
the purchase of Florida. 

This boundary line began at the mouth of the Sabine River 
and ascended that river to the thirty-second parallel of north 
latitude ; thence it ran due north to the Red River ; thence up the 



326 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 

river to a point one hundred degrees west of Greenwich ; thence 
due north to the Arkansas River and up that river to its head ; 
thence to the forty-second parallel of latitude ; thence along 
that line, which was the line adopted by Spain in 1795, to the 
Pacific Ocean. This line, so far as it affected the boundary of 
Texas, was affirmed in a treaty with Mexico in 1828 and tea 
years later in a treaty with the Republic of Texas. 

The blue line on the accompanying map shows the extent of 
territory comprised in the First Mexican Empire and in the 
United States of Mexico up to the year 1836. In that year 
Texas revolted and established her independence of Mexico. 
The boundaries of the new Republic of Texas were by no means 
clearly defined and the lands between the Rio Grande and the 
Rio Nueces were in dispute between Mexico and Texas. A 
further dispute would undoubtedly have arisen in regard to the 
western boundary of Texas had not the war between the United 
States and Mexico resulted in the loss to Mexico of the territory 
including the dubious boundary line. A green line upon the 
accompanying map indicates the boundary of Mexico after the 
revolt of Texas, according to the claims of the latter. 

By the Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo at the close of the war 
with the United States in 1848, the northern boundary of Mex- 
ico was established upon the Gila River and extended eastward 
to the Rio Grande, and down the Rio Grande to its mouth, as 
indicated by a red line upon the accompanying map. 

By a treaty concluded in 1853, with James Gadsden represent- 
ing the United States, Mexico sold to the latter a tract south of 
the Gila River which is known historically as the " Gadsden 
Purchase," and is indicated upon the accompanying map by a 
red tint. Thus the northern boundary of Mexico became fixed 
as it is to-day. 

It is in no way remarkable that, after the loss of so much 
territory, the " maintenance of the territorial integrity of Mex- 
ico " should become one of the fixed principles of government in 
that country, answering to the " Monroe Doctrine " in the 
United States in the tenacity with which it is held, the empha- 
sis with which it is asserted, and, it might be added, the curi- 
ous manner in which it has sometimes been applied in political 
argument. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abasalo, 38 

Acambaro, 45 

Acapulco, 54, 61, 119, 173,211 

Aculco, 47 

Aguas Calientes, 170 

Agustin I., see Iturbide, Agustin 

Ahualulco, 214 

Alaman, Lucas, 98, 116, 118, 119, 

157-159, 174, 176 
Alameda, 194 
Alamo, The, 134 
Aldama, 38, 39, 49 
Alexander VI., Pope, 8 
Alhondiga, 43-45, 49, §0 
Allende, Ignacio, 38, 39, 41, 46, 49, 

93 
Almonte, General, 134, 155, 157, 163, 

230, 239, 244-246, 249, 258 
Alvarez, Juan, 73, 82, 176-181, 183, 

184, 192, 223 
America, 11, 24, 26, 27, 34, 40, 58, 

01 
Anahuac, 65 
Anaya, Pedro, 167, 168 
Apatzingan, 05 
Apodaca, Juan Ruiz de, 72-75, 82, 

83 
Aranjuez, 26 

Archiepiscopal Palace, 33 
Ario, 68 

Arista, Mariano, 127, 170-172 
Arteaga, General, 271 
Asturians, 27 
Asturias, 58, 68 
Atenquique, 214 
Atotonilco, 40 



Audiencia, 3-5, 7, 10, 20, 29, 31-33, 

35, 36, 38, 53, 57, 81, 94 
Austria, 175, 250, 252-254 

, Emperor of, 255 

Auto-da-fe, 69 
Ayolla, 164 
Ayotla, 200 

, Plan de, see Plan de Ayotla 

Ayuntamiento, 3, 5, 30, 31 
Aztecs, 1, 2, 13, 268 

Bajio, 82 

Barcena, Manuel de la, 85 
Barragan, Miguel, 130, 132, 135 
Bases Organicas, see Constitution of 

1843 
Bavonne, 26, 27 
Bazaine, Marshal, 251, 253, 263, 269, 

272, 273 
Belgium, 255 
Bernardo Galvez, 6 
Biblioteca Nacional, 221 
Bliss, Fort, 260 
Bocanegra, Jose Maria, 117 
Bonaparte, Joseph, 27, 28 

, Louis, 27 

, Xapoleon, see Xapoleon I. 

Bravo, :N'icolas, 82, 86, S3, 95, 97, 98, 

102, 106, 112, 122, 140, 351, 157, 

160, 161 
Bucareli, 6 

Buena Vista, 166, 167 
Buenos Aj^res, 4 
Bustamante, Anastasio, 82, 115, 117- 

119, 121, 129, 136-139, 147, 154, 159 
, Carlos Maria, 56, 61, 82, 103 



330 



INDEX 



Cadiz, Spain, 19, 34, 56, 58, 98 

Cajiga, 223, 224 

Calderon, Count of, see Calleja del 

Key, Felix Maria 
Calientes, Aguas, 148 
California, 160, 169, 265 
Calleja del Rev, Felix Maria, 47, 52, 

55, 59, 60, 72, 73, 115 
Calpulalpam, 221, 222 
Campeche, 252 
Canaleja, 168 
Canalizo, Valentin, 140, 147-150, 153, 

154 
Capuchin monastery, 283 
Carlos I., 11 

III., 12, 19 

IV., 25,26,91 

Carlota, 255, 257, 258, 274 

Carmelites, 10 

Carrera, Martin, 178, 179 

Carretas, 214 

Casa de Contratacion, 18, 19, 44 

Catani, Pedro, 36, 42 

Cathedral, 49, 100 

Ceballos, Juan Bautista, 171, 172 

Celaya, 41, 211, 274 

Central America, 129, 140 

Cerro de las Campanas, 278, 280 

Cerro del Borrego, 248 

Cerro Gordo, 168 

Chapultepec, 203 

Chiapas, 91, 252 

Chihuahua, 49, 171, 260, 273 

Chili, 4 

Chilpantzingo, 61 

China, 91 

Chinos, see Zambos 

Cinco de Mayo, 247 

Ciudad Juarez, see Paso del Norte 

Ciudadela, 161 

Coahuila, 103, 116, 252 

Coat-of-arms, National, 101 

Colima, 212, 213 

Comonfort, Ignacio, 177, 179, 181, 

183, 184, 185, 192-194, 196, 198, 

200, 203, 204, 211, 218, 223, 246 
Confederate States of America, 264 
Congress, 53, 61-66, 68-71, 86-89, 93- 

102, 105, 110-115, 117, 118, 121-125, 



129-132, 135, 136, 139-141, 146, 147, 

149-152, 154, 159-163, 165, 166, 168, 

171, 172, 174, 176, 177-179, 186, 

193, 194, 196-199, 204, 224, 229, 

301 
Consejo de las Indias, see Council of 

the Indies 
Constitution of 1812, 56-60, 66, 67, 

69, 73-75, 78, 111 

1813 (Ist Mexican), 65-67 

1824, 10^106, 114, 115, 121, 

122, 125, 130-133, 162, 164, 188, 

207, 209 

1836, 132, 133, 138-140, 209 

1843, 140-144, 146, 147, 149, 

152, 157, 199, 200, 203 
1857, 172, 176, 178, 187-203, 

204, 211, 217, 218, 225, 294, 298, 

299, 302, 303 

1857 amended, 303 

Cordoba, 84 

, Treaty of, 84, 85, 87, 88, 101, 235 

Corpus Christi, 156, 160 
Corro, Jos6 Justo, 135, 136 
Cortazar, 148, 150, 152 
Cortes, Hernando, 1, 2, 3, 8, 22 
Cortes, Spanish, 27, 34, 35, 42, 56- 

59, 61, 66, 67, 74, 75, 81, 87, 88, 98 
Cos, Dr., 52, 55, 61, 65, 68 
Council of Castile, 27 

of the Indies, 2, 5, 15-18, 28, 57 



Creoles, 13, 14, 21, 24, 29-35, 37-39, 
41, 42, 47, 62, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 82, 
87, 92, 111, 115, 118, 120 

Croix, Marquis of, 6 

Cuautla, 59 

Cuba, 117, 154, 163 

Cuernavaca, 179, 192, 193, 200 

, Plan de, see Plan de Cuernavaca 

Decrek of Huitzilopochtli, 268, 270, 

276, 278 
Degollado, Santos, 213-216, 220, 224, 

228, 288 
Diaz, Jesus, 271 
, Porfirio,210, 214, 246, 247, 249, 

252, 277, 282, 289,292, 293, 295-304 
Diaz de la Vega, Romulo, 179, 180 
Doblado, Manuel, 192, 211, 242, 243 



INDEX 



331 



Dolores, 37, 39 

, Grito de, 40, 109, 116, 164, 297 

Dominguez, Miguel, 98 
Dominicans, 8-11 
Dunlop, Commodore, 240, 245 
Duran, General, 127 
Durango, 82, 252 

EcHAVARRiA, Javier, 138, 139 

El Cinco de Mayo, see Cinco de Mayo 

El Monitor Republicano, 158 

El Tiempo, 158, 159 

Elba, 28 

Empire, First, established, 89-90 

, , overthrown, 96-97 

, Second, established, 256-258 

, , overthrown, 280 

Enchanted Lake, see Laguna Encan- 

tada 
England, 4, 28, 58, 103, 108, 163, 175, 

232-236, 238, 240 
Es muy Rey, 18 

Escobedo, 221, 246, 273, 274, 276, 277 
Estanca de las Yacas, 211, 216 
Estrada, Jose Maria Gutierrez de, 159, 

175, 189, 239, 250, 254 
Executive Power, see Poder Ejecutivo 

Farias, Gomez, 103, 123, 125, 127- 
131, 136, 137, 153, 156, 165-167, 
192, 197, 208, 210, 220, 303 

Ferdinand VII., 25-31, 35, 36, 38, 40, 
45, 48, 52, 53, 56, 57, 61-03, 66, 67, 
74, 75, 79-81, 91, 106 

Fernandez, Felix, see Victoria, Gua- 
dalupe 

Fernando, Prince of Asturias, see 
Ferdinand VII. 

Flag of Mexico, National, 101 

Florida, 91 

Forey, General, 248-251 

France, 4, 25, 26, 28, 29, 56, 66, 136, 
163, 175, 232, 235-238, 240, 243, 
245, 246, 248, 249, 253, 263, 264, 
266-268, 273, 287 

Francis Joseph, 253 

Franciscans, 8-10, 206 

Freemasonry, 110, 111 

French Revolution, 24 



Gaceta, 20 

Gachupines, 13 

Gadsden Purchase, 174 

Galeana, 72, 93 

Gallardo, 246 

Galvez, Matfas de, 6 

Garibay, Pedro de, 33, 34 

Godoy, Manuel, 25, 26 

Gonzalez, Manuel, 271, 300 

Granaditas, Castle, see Alhondiga 

Gravi^re, Jurien de la, 240 

Grito de Dolores, see Dolores, Grito 

de 
Guadalajara, 47, 48, 68, 82, 125, 148, 

171, 211, 212, 214, 215, 220, 223, 

251 
Guadalupe, 36, 37, 148, 247 

, Order of, 175 

, Virgin of, 40 

Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 169, 173 
Guanajuato, 13, 37, 39, 41-43, 45-47, 

49, 50, 68, 148, 153, 211, 274, 296 
Guarantees, Three, see Plan de Iguala 
Guatemala, 91, 129 
Guerrero, 80, 176 
, Vicente, 73, 78, 81, 88, 95, 98, 

102, 112-117, 119, 121 

Habana, 154, 282 

Haro y Taraaris, Antonio de, 152- 

154, 178, 180, 185, 203, 239, 244 
Havana, 210, 213, 216, 245 
Heras, Count of, 88 
Herrera, Jos^ Juaquin de, 82, 84, 150, 

151, 155-157, 161, 163, 168-170, 297 
Hidalgo y Costilla, Miguel, 37-50, 

52-54, 61, 69, 72, 76, 77, 93, 109, 

116, 125, 181, 190 
Holland, 27 

Holy Office, see Inquisition 
Houston, Samuel, 134, 155 
Huasteca, 95 

Iglesias, 296 
Iguala, 80, 192 

, Plan de, see Plan de Iguala 

Ildefonso, Treaty of, 25 
Independence, Declaration of, 65-68 
Independencia, 194 



332 



INDEX 



Indians, 9, 10, 13-16, 21, 22, 37-44, 
47, 48, 51, 58, 123, 143, 181, 207, 
254 

, Slavery of, 15, 16 

Inquisition, 9, 12, 20, 43, 69; sus- 
pended, 57 ; reestablished, 66 ; 
finally abolished, 74 

Italy, 98, 99 

Iturbide, Agustin, 76, 78-102, 107, 
113-115, 120, 123, 124, 175, 185 

, Teatro de, see Teati'o de Iturbide 

Iturrig-aray, Jose de, 29-32, 34, 36, 
37, 43, 53, 115 

Ixtlan, 205 

Jalapa, 95, 123, 126, 152, 210, 246 

, Plan de, see Plan de Jalapa 

Jalisco, 148, 149, 171, 220, 251 

Jeeker claim, 236, 237, 245, 257 

Jesuits, 9, 101 

Jimenez, 49, 93 

Juarez, Benito, 180, 181, 183, 192, 
198, 199, 200, 204-213, 216, 217, 
219, 221-223, 225-230, 234, 235, 
237, 241-246, 248, 249, 252, 259- 
265, 268, 269, 270, 272-274, 277- 
293, 298, 301, 303, 304 

Judges, Eesident, 3 

Junta Americana, 56 

Junta of Jauaxiila, 55 

of Madrid, 29 

of >Totables, 93, 94, 139, 140, 157, 

201, 204 

of Queretaro, 149 

of Sevilla, 30, 33, 34 

of Zitacuaro, 52. 53, 55, 61 

Kearney, General, 160 

La Ckuz, Church of, 278 

La Noria, 298 

Labastida, Antonio Pelagio de, 182, 

198, 249 
Lagos, 148, 228 
Laguna Encantada, 205 
Laguna, Seca, 288 
Las Siete Leyes, see Laws, The 

Seven 



Las Tres Garantias, see Plan de 

Iguala 
Laurencez, General, 243, 248 
Laws, The Seven, 131, 132 
Leon, 202, 252 

, Manuel Vasquez de, 85 

Ley de Desamortizacion, see Ley 

Lerdo 
Ley Juarez, 181, 182, 187 
— Lerdo, 183, 184, 186, 191, 193 
Liceaga, Jos^ Marfa, 52, 56, 61, 65, 

73 
Lisbon, Portugal, 171 
Literature, 21 
Lithuania, 248 
Lizana, Archbishop, 42 

, Francisco Javier de, 34, 36 

Lombardini, Manuel Maria, 138, 168, 

172, 173 
Lombardy, 255 
London, 99, 101 
, Treaty of, 232, 235-237, 239, 

245, 246, 250, 263 
Lopez, Miguel, 277 
Loretto, 247 
Louisiana, 91 
purchase, 25 

Madrid, 5, 12, 25, 27, 66, 74, 81, 

233 
Mango de Clava, 126, 128, 129, 147 
Manzanillo, 212 
Mapimi, 260 
Marcha, Pio, 89 
Maria Luisa of Parma, 25, 26 
Marquez, General, 214-216, 221-224, 

227, 229, 234, 243, 246, 249, 251, 

275-277, 282, 288 
Matamoras, 160 
Matamoras, Mariano, 54, 68, 72, 93, 

190 
Maximilian, Ferdinand, 250-259, 262, 

263, 268, 271-276, 278-283, 286, 

287 
Mazatlan, 213 
Mejia, Tomas, 198, 211, 215, 216, 222, 

224, 229, 246, 251, 276-278, 280 
Mendez, General, 271, 276, 278 
Mendoza, Antonio de, 6 



INDEX 



333 



Mexia, General, 136, 137 

Mexican Independence, Birthday of, 

39 

, Father of, 37 

Mexico, City of, 3, 13, 33, 36, 41, 43, 

45, 46, 49, 55, 56, 61, 64, 65, 76, 77, 

81, 84, 89, 100, 102, 115, 133, 148, 
• 150, 163, 164, 169, 193, 212, 220, 

223, 224, 249, 252, 258, 272, 277, 

282, 298 

, Gulf of, 167, 234 

, University of, 20, 21 

Meztizos, 14, 21, 32, 35-38, 54, 71, 76,77 
Michelena, Mariano, 98 
Michoacan, 34, 45, 177, 183, 222, 251, 

271, 274 

, Bishop of, 42 

Mier v Teran, Manuel de, 55, 68-71, 

73, 103, 122 
Mina, Francisco Javier, 72, 73 
Miramar, Palace of, 250, 255, 256 

, Treaty of, 256, 257, 263, 274 

Miramon, Miguel, 198, 201-203, 214- 

217, 220, 221, 227, 228, 230, 234, 

235, 237, 239, 245, 246, 274-278; 

280, 288 
Miranda, Francisco J., 239, 244 
Molino del Key, 203 
Mon-Almonte Treaty, 230, 238 
Monclova, 49 
Monroe Doctrine, 106-108, 239, 264, 

267, 268 
Monte de las Cruces, 45, 46, 224 
Monterey, 160, 252, 260, 274 
Morelia, 76, 183, 222, 223, 251, 276 ; 

see also Yalladolid 
Morelos, 192, 300 
, Jose Maria, 52-55, 59, 60, 61, 

64, 65, 67-70, 72, 73, 76, 78, 93, 

176, 183, 190, 206 
Mugica y Osorio, Juan, 172 
Murat, 25, 26 
Musquiz, Melchor, 121 

Napoleon L, 24-29, 52, 66, 91, 133, 

137 
III., 239, 246, 249-251, 253, 254, 

256, 257, 263, 265, 267, 268, 273, 

274, 280 



National Palace, 113, 138, 146, 149, 

150, 157, 290 
Navarete, 55, 72, 102 
Nazas, 260 
Negrete, Pedro Celestino, 82, 86, 97, 

102 
New Granada, 173 

Mexico, 160, 169 

Orleans, 210, 211, 213, 

Novella, Francisco de, 83, 84 
Nueces River, 155 
Nuevo Leon, 103, 177 

Oaxaca, 13, 59, 60, 82, 119, 171, 

205-210, 215, 252, 295, 297, 298, 

300 

University of, 207, 208 

Ocampo, Melchor, 179, 180, 183, 192, 

222, 223, 224, 283, 303 
O'Donoju, Juan, 83-85 
O'Horan, Tomas, 224, 283 
Orizaba, 59, 242, 243, 245-249, 275 
Ortega, Jesus Gonzalez, 216, 220, 

221, 225, 229, 234, 248, 261 
Otomies, 13 
Otumba, 110 

Pachuca, 229 

Padilla, 100 

Palacio, Mariano Riva, 258, 279 

Palmar, 68 

Palo Alto, 180 

Panama, 211, 213 

Panteon de San Fernando, 223 

Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano, 138, 

147-151, 154, 156, 157, 159-163, 

170, 189 
Paris, 233, 240, 242, 244, 250 
Paruaran, 72 

Paso del Norte, 260, 273, 287, 289 
Pavon, Josd Ignacio, 202 
Pedraza, Manuel Gomez, 95, 96, 113- 

115, 121 
Peiia y Pena, Manuel de la, 168 
Perez, Antonio, 71 
Perote, 152, 178 

Castle of, 114, 162 

Peru, 4 

Pezuela, Robles, 201 



334 



INDEX 



Philip II., 11, 12 

"Pie claim" 139 

Pius IX., Pope, 197 

Plan Casa Mata, 95 

Plan de Ayotla, 1G9-186, 192, 201, 

211, 217, 223 

Cuernavaca, 129, 130 

Iguala, 79-87, 101, 104, 105, 

115, 207 

Jalapa, 117 

Navidad, 201 

Noria, 292, 293, 298 

San Agustin, 127 

Tacubaya, 139, 140, 148, 154, 201 

Toluca,'l31 

Tuxtepec, 295, 296, 298, 299, 302, 

303 
Plan del Hospicio, 171 
Plan Napoleon, 258, 264 
Plan of 1828, 111 
Poblanos, 152 
Poder Ejecutivo, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 

97-99, 106 
Poinsett, Mr. 110, 111 , 113 
Polk, James K., 160 
Polkos Pronunciamento, 167 
Pomoca, 222, 223 
Portugal, 8, 25 
Printing-press, 20 
Profesa, Church of the, 76, 77, 78 
Prussia, 273 
Puebla, 13, 68, 82, 121, 122, 136, 148, 

150, 152, 172, 177, 185, 186, 200, 

203, 210, 218, 220, 247-249, 252, 

258, 264, 277, 282, 287 

Bishop of, 249 

de Zaragoza, 247 

Puente de Calderon, 49, 54, 60 

QUAXIMALPA, 46 

Queretaro, 37-39, 82, 148, 149, 168, 
169, 177, 204, 222, 229, 251, 274, 
276-278, 282, 298 

, Junta of, see Junta of Queretaro 

Quintanar, Luis, 118 

Ramirez, Ignacio, 221 

Rayon, Francisco, 72 

, Ignacio, 52-56, 61, 72, 73 



Reform, War of the, 204-231, 244, 

287, 297 
Reform laws, 218, 263, 293-294 
Remedios, Virgin de los, 40 
Republic established, 104-106 

restored, 280 

Resaca de la Palma, 160, 170 

Revillagigedo, Count of, 6, 14 

Riaiion, 43, 44 

Richmond, 264 

Rio Grande del Norte, 91 

Rio Grande River, 155, 156, 160, 189, 

260, 295 
Rio Verde, 222 
Rivera, Payo de, 6 
Robles, General, 242, 244, 287 
Rome, 257 
Royal Audience, see Audiencia 

Officers, 3 

Russia, 91, 248 

Salamanca, 211, 212 

Salas, Mariano, 161-165, 167, 178, 

249 
Salazar, 271 

Saligny, Count of, 240, 243, 249-251 
Salm-Salm, Princess, 279 
San Antonio de Bexar, 134 
San Augustin Monastery, 221 
San Bartolo, 220 
San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, 

221 
San Cristobal Ecatepec, 69 
San Felipe de Jesus, Chapel of, 100 
San Fernando, Panteon of, 289 
San Gregorio, 277 
San Hipolito, 89 
San Hipolito's Day, 2 
San Jacinto, 135, 137, 155, 274, 276 

River, 134 

San Juan de Ulua, 32, 83, 84, 210, 

223 
San Juan del Rio, 211 
San Luis Potosl, 10, 115, 156, 165, 

171, 177, 214, 246, 249, 252, 274, 

276, 279 
San Miguel, 41 
San Nicolas Obispo, 222 
San Pablo Guelatao, 205, 206 



INDEX 



335 



Sanchez, Epitacio, 89 

Santa Ana Acatlan, 213 

Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez de, 82, 
83, 95, 113, 114, 116, 117, 121-130, 
133, 134, 137-140, 143, 146-155, 157, 
158, 161-168, 173-179, 183, 200, 203, 
209, 210, 223, 230, 286, 288, 297, 

, 300 

■Santa Fd, 160, 269 

Santo Domingo, Convent of, 198 

Saragossa, 74 

Scott, General, 162, 168 

Sedan, 273 

Sevilla, Spain, 19, 28 

Seward, William H., 266 

Sierra Madre, Proposed Republic of, 
136 

Sierra Madre Mountains, 55, 215 

Siete Leyes, 209 

Silao, 220 

Sinaloa, 148, 251 

Sisters of Charitj^, 294 

Slaves, African, imported, 14 

, liberated, 109 

Sloat, Commodore, 160 

Soledad, 242, 249 

Sombrerete, 274 

Sonora, 148, 239, 251, 265 

Soto de la Marina, 100 

South America, 106 

Southampton, England, 99 

Spaniards, 1, 8, 9, 13, 14, 21, 22, 26, 
28, 32-35, 39, 40, 43, 46, 48, 50, 55- 
57, 60, 63, 68, 84, 87, 94, 110, 115 
117, 120, 302 

Spain, 2-8, 11, 12, 15-20, 22, 24-28, 
30, 32-36, 38, 45, 49, 52, 53, 55-58, 
61, 62, 64, 66, 67, 71-75, 77, 80, 81, 
83, 84, 88, 91, 106, 108, 125, 135, 
163, 175, 232, 235, 236, 238, 240, 
241 

Sultepec, 55, 56 

Tabasco, 252 

Tacambaro, 271 
Tacubaya, 92, 139, 200, 215 

, Plan de, see Plan de Tacubaya 

, Tiger of, see Marquez, Leonardo 

Tamaulipas, 177, 252 



Tampico, 10, 100, 117, 156, 213, 230, 

301 
Tarascans, 13 
Taylor, Zachary, 156, 160 
Teatro de Iturbide, 278 
Tecoac, 296 
Tehuacan, 59, 68, 70 
Tejada, Miguel Lerdo de, 180, 183, 

192, 198, 225, 260, 292, 303 
, Sebastian Lerdo de, 260, 280, 

289, 292, 294, 296 
Tenochtitlan, 1 
Tepeji del Rio, 223 
Texas, 116, 132-134, 146, 147, 155, 

160, 209, 273 
Texcoco, Lake, 1 
Texmalaca, 69 
Tlacotepec, 65 
Tlalpa, 177 
Tlalpujahua, 55 
Tolototlan, 214 
Toluca, 45, 82, 168, 220 

, Plan de, see Plan de Toluca 

Torres, Padre, 55 
Trieste, Gulf of, 255, 256 
Truxillo, General, 45, 46 
Tulancingo, 112, 222 
Turkey,, 275 

United States, 25, 31, 48, 49, 66, 
91, 97, 103, 104, 106-108, 134, 155, 
156,158, 160-162, 165-167, 169, 170, 
172, 174, 200, 203, 213, 216, 203, 
238, 239, 260, 263-268, 280, 284, 
294, 296, 297, 300, 301 

University of Mexico, see Mexico, 
University of 

Uruapan, 271 

Valencay, 26 

Valencia, 28 

, General, 138, 151, 157 

Valentin, Miguel, 88 

Valez, Pedro, 118 

Valladolid, 13, 34, 37, 39, 45, 52, 67, 

68, 76, 82, 119, 222; see also 

Morelia 
Valle, Leandro, 224 
Velasco, 6, 16 



336 



INDEX 



Venadito, 72 

Venegas, Francisco Javier, 36, 37, 42, 
43, 59, 60 

Venice, 255 

Vera Cruz, 3, 19, 32, 42, 83, 94, 95, 
98, 114, 121, 123, 126, 137-139, 
147, 148, 150, 152, 154, 162, 163, 
167, 177, 184, 185, 187, 210, 213, 
215-217, 219, 220, 221, 225, 230, 
240, 242, 247, 251, 252, 257, 272, 
273 

Verdad, Licenciado, 33 

Verduzco, Dr., 52, 56, 61, 73 

Viceregal government, 4-7, 10, 12, 13 

Victoria, Guadalupe, 73, 82, 86, 88, 
95, 97, 102, 106, 109, 110, 112, 
113, 114, 116, 122, 207 

Vidaurri, Santiago, 179, 214, 246, 
252, 277, 282 

Vienna, 254, 256, 283 

Viesca, 260 

Villa del Carbon, 222 

Villagomez, Trinidad, 271 

Vireinate, 36 

Visitors, 3 



Washington, 107, 108, 232, 233, 
239, 263-267 

, George, 91 

Wyke, Charles, 229, 240 



YA5fEZ, Sos& ISIDRO, 85 
Yucatan, 252 



Zacatecas, 52, 82, 125, 131, 148, 
214, 216, 352, 274 

Zambos, 14 

Zapotecans, Zapotecas, Zapotecs, 13, 
205, 206, 285 

Zaragoza, Ignacio, 220, 246-248 

Zavaleta, 121, 122 

Zitacuaro, 52, 55 

, Junta of, see Junta of Zita- 
cuaro 

Zuloaga, Felix, 180, 192, 198, 200- 
204, 221, 222, 228, 229, 235, 237, 
246, 288 

Zumarraga, 9 



By the Author of '■^ From Empire to Republic''* 

A SHORT HISTORY 
OF MEXICO 

By ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL 

NEW EDITION THOROUGHLY RE- 
VISED, AND WITH NEW MATTER 

THIS excellent little book was the 
standard short history of Mexico 
in its earlier form, and it has been in 
much demand during the several years 
it has been out of print. The new edi- 
tion will be most welcome, especially as 
Dr. Noll has extended it to include the 
more recent years in which President 
Diaz has succeeded in making of Mex- 
ico a real self-governing nation, as could 
hardly be said of it when the book was 
first written. 

i6mo. 75 cents net 

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Publishers 



OCT 30 1903 



